Boucheron’s ‘Faisceaux’ Brooch Heads to V&A Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London’s South Kensington neighborhood has welcomed a new piece into its jewelry gallery.

Boucheron’s “Faisceaux” brooch, our Piece of the Week, is the first piece from the jeweler’s “Carte Blanche” collections to enter the V&A’s permanent collection.

The standout piece features holographic rock crystal with rose gold and diamonds.

It debuted in Boucheron’s 2021 “Holographique” Carte Blanche high jewelry collection with a matching “Faisceaux” bracelet and is a spin on the signature “Jack de Boucheron” collection.

The Carte Blanche—a French term meaning “blank document”—collections, released annually, are an opportunity for Creative Director Claire Choisne to explore new materials and technologies, reinventing the notion of what’s precious, and putting emotion at the heart of the collection, said Boucheron.

Holographique is rooted in this visionary approach, drawing inspiration from the way light interacts with color.

Choisne created each piece to capture and display every hue on the chromatic spectrum via a technique that produces a holographic effect.

The effect is achieved by spraying a fine coating of metallic powders onto the stone—in the case of the brooch; it was rock crystal—at high temperatures.

When the Holographique collection first debuted, the Boucheron team noted that this technique resulted in a unique effect that could not be pre-planned and appears distinctly different depending on the viewing angle and lighting.

The rock crystal was also hollowed out to place a “Jack” motif set with diamonds within it.

The brooch displays an interplay of transparency and depth through the layering of materials and magnifying glass effect of the rock crystal.

With the holographic film placed over the entire piece, light flows through it and is diffracted. This brings out infinite iridescent reflections and highlights the materials’ ever-changing beauty with every movement, said Boucheron.

“Today’s innovations will be tomorrow’s heritage pieces,” said the jeweler on its donation of the brooch to the museum.

“This rock crystal jewel embodies the V&A’s values of cultural heritage, innovation, and artistic excellence in every respect. Beyond being a piece of high jewelry, it epitomizes Boucheron’s creative vision—to push back the boundaries of craftsmanship and redefine the relationship with light and matter,” said Choisne.

“I’m confident it will prove a worthy addition to the museum’s collection, as much in tune with the past as with the future of artistic expression.”

The Faisceaux brooch joins 12 other Boucheron pieces at the V&A Museum ranging in date from 1875 to the 1960s.

They include early creations worked with a plique-à-jour enamel technique, brooches painted with miniatures, watches and jewelry from the 1960s, and 20th century objets d’arts like its cigarette case and a vanity case made of gold.

The variety of Boucheron pieces on display at the V&A Museum, with the addition of the Faisceaux brooch, constitutes a unique retrospective of the jeweler’s innovation and artistry, Boucheron said.

The Faisceaux brooch is part of the museum’s metalwork collection and is on display in room 91 of the William and Judith Bollinger Gallery.