Animals and art of Africa becomes high jewelry with the new collection of Chaumet ♦ ︎
African art has inspired artists such as Picasso and Braque. Why should not it be the source of inspiration in jewelry too? But the high jewelery collection entitled Trésors d’Afrique by Chaumet goes even further. Because it is the result of collaboration with the graphic designer and pointillist artist born in Kenya, Evans Mbugua, who lives and works in Paris and has worked in advertising before devoting himself to art. An example, the result of this work, is the Cascade Royale necklace, with black onyx, white and yellow gold and nine marquise-cut diamonds, plus a 7.15-carat emerald from the Muzo, Colombia mines. Or the Talismania bracelets, made of ebony, malachite and chrysoprase, inspired by the Serengeti park.
It is no surprise that in the collection there are also six brooches representing the classic African wild animals, such as giraffe, monkey and lion.
According to Chaumet, other sources of inspiration are the jewels and the diadems of African queens, the beads worn by the Dinka people of South Sudan, or the Nyangatom of Ethiopia, or the royal headdresses of Rwanda and the wedding ornaments of Samburu, Kenya. Mbugua has also designed the quadrants of six mechanical watches, unique pieces, which reproduce, in miniature, hand-engraving techniques, a new animal repertoire. Giulia Netrese
