The new Cartier SurNaturel High Jewellery Collection seems to be art imitating life. At the height of the pandemic quarantine, an economic segment seemed to surge upwards – Nurseries.
Across the European continent and the continental US, Reuters reported fruit and vegetable seed sales are jumping worldwide as masses turned to gardening as a soothing, family friendly hobby that also eases concerns over food security as lockdowns slow the harvesting and distribution of crops. In land scarce Southeast Asian metropolitan cities like Singapore, working from home parents turned to a spot of gardening on the balcony as an activity that not only promoted a sense of personal well-being but also didn’t involve a screen for children stuck on home-based learning.
“Going beyond the real and reinventing it. Through the richness of its style and the refinement of its expertise, Cartier paves the way to a transfigured supernatural beauty.”
Dubbed [Sur]Naturel, the new High Jewellery collection by Cartier reveals a nature that is “freed from reality’s constraints” – but what one finds under the very real constraint of a pandemic lockdown is that Cartier’s new high jewellery SurNaturel collection is perhaps a literal embodiment of timeless desire ensconced in the precious metal and stone objets d’art replicating the eternal nature of water, flora and fauna – to wit, a virus or climate change may wipe us out and yet the world (and nature along with it) turns.
As with every High Jewellery collection, Cartier [Sur]Naturel showcases the most precious, archaic, beautiful and mysterious stones, the beauty of plants and animals (and the very spirit endowed in living creatures) embodied within the material and artistic abstractions.
In Cartier’s new high jewellery SurNaturel collection, the roundness of a plant form bursting with flavour, coloured spots coming together to form an unreal animal coat or a series of glistening ice crystals. The jewellers intensify the stones’ evocative powers, blending wilderness with fantasy; One where diamonds, emeralds and sapphires are combined with opal and kunzite, coral and aquamarine, beryl and quartz. The stones show off their transparency and effects of depth.
Cartier SurNaturel Gharial
Platinum, five octagonal emeralds from Zambia totalling 11.31 carats, fifteen octagonal emeralds from Zambia totalling 4.13 carats, two F VS1/VS2 tapered diamonds totalling 6.90 carats, tapered diamonds, square-shaped diamonds, brilliant-cut diamonds.
Cartier SurNaturel Tillandsia
White gold, two oval-shaped green beryls totalling 163.97 carats, one 0.55-carat fancy yellow pear- shaped diamond, one 0.53-carat fancy dark orange-brown pear-shaped diamond, rutilated quartz, brown pear-shaped diamonds, yellow rose- cut diamonds, yellow and white brilliant-cut diamonds.
Cartier Panthere Tropicale Watch
Yellow gold, two octagonal aquamarines totalling 12.71 carats, two octagonal blue tourmalines totalling 20.58 carats, coral, onyx, brilliant-cut diamonds, quartz movement.
Cartier SurNaturel Hemis
Platinum, one 71.08-carat cushion- shaped kunzite, opals, pink and white brilliant-cut diamonds.
