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F ounding his Parisian atelier in the 1890s, René Boivin set himself and the house of Boivin apart from his contemporaries with a bold aesthetic that drew inspiration from flora and fauna. His daring approach challenged the conventions of traditional Art Nouveau forms and techniques. The upcoming Luxury Week sales in Geneva will include a single-owner collection showcasing the finest examples of Boivin jewelry to come to market in recent years.
Any list of the most iconic fine jewelry houses of the early 20th century must include René Boivin. The man was born in 1864 in Paris, and by the 1890s, he had established himself as an accomplished jeweler and skilled engraver with several self-named workshops. His marriage to Jeanne Poiret, sister of the famous couturier Paul Poiret, thrust René into the most stylish echelons of French society and added an air of fashion-forwardness to his sculptural, modern designs. René and Jeanne designed together, creating meticulously crafted pieces and producing for other well-known jewelers, like Mellerio and Boucheron.
Boivin's take on traditional craftsmanship was inspired by his social circles, his respect for nature and a love of botany, which helps to explain the floral designs that so often appeared in his works. Although his lifetime coincides with the Art Nouveau movement, which was similarly inspired by nature, Boivin was not a proponent of the style and instead offered his high-society and aristocratic clients pieces for formal events. In his lifetime, Boivin would have seen his jewels paraded at society parties and worn as badges of contemporary style by his friends and acquaintances. By the turn of the 21st century, Boivin served private clients and established his unique voice as a designer, working with coloured gemstones, diamonds and mixed materials, such as wood, ivory, coral and pearls, and exaggerating proportions in unbelievable ways. He was also vastly ahead of his time.
When René died at the peak of his popularity in 1917, his wife Jeanne continued his legacy with aplomb, bringing their daughter, Germaine Boivin, and a small group of trusted designers into the fold over the next three decades. From the mid-1920s to 1940s, the house of René Boivin produced some of its most remarkable creations, supported by designers Suzanne Belperron and Juliette Moutard. This is the era of the René Boivin Starfish with cabochon and pavé-set gemstone bodies, as well as gem-encrusted animals, floral blooms and trees.
During this time, "Madame René Boivin" proved to be a formidable businesswoman and a creative force with independent ideas and jewelled preferences. She was, for example, a proponent of coloured gemstones, voluminous shapes and unusual textures, and, unlike many of her contemporaries, she was a woman designing for other women and therefore acknowledged their needs, likes, dislikes and requirements. She kept the wares of René Boivin close to her chest, working only for private clients and on a referral basis.
Without the driving need to secure new customers, Madame René Boivin was largely able to ignore the prevailing trend for Art Deco and continue to set her style. Supple rounded jewels, delicate florals and gem-encrusted animals emerged from the house’s workshops, as did geometric brooches with rock crystal, calibre-cut gems, quartzes, onyx and other hardstones. Flowers emerge as a recurring theme, especially orchids, umbels and foxgloves, as did trees and fruits, like chestnuts, raspberries, ‘melon slices’ and clusters of grapes.
The house’s pieces were often large and three-dimensional, including yellow gold signets and carved rock rings; ‘arched design’ brooches that curved outwards from the body; and chunks of carved wood inset with large-faceted gemstones. Later, in the 1950s, the house produced more iconic designs, like the Quatre-Corps ring with four layers of stones in a rub-over setting and the Pampilles ring with a centre stone and a fringe of bezel-set gems.
Yellow gold was the go-to precious metal for René Boivin, whether worn alone or combined with hardstones and faceted gems. This golden warmth was often accented with citrine, rubies, emeralds and aquamarines that verge on pastel tones. Necklaces were tight to the throat in the choker style, sometimes with pendants, strings of beads or pearls, and its earrings were typically curvaceous and scooped around the earlobe.
Jeanne Boivin died in 1959, and her daughter, Germaine, took over until 1976 when the company was told to Jacques Bernard, a designer for the house. In the 1990s, René Boivin was sold to the Asprey Group and subsequently closed. In its illustrious history, René Boivin came to be associated with exceptional feats of craftsmanship, creative freedom and complexity, and modern jewels that are as tempting today as they were some 100 years ago. The longevity of this brand is not just in its designs but in its incomparable spirit.
