Mikimoto’s Secret Gardens

With its Place Vendome boutique transformed into a magical white garden through a paper-cut installation, Japanese jeweller Mikimoto presented its Mysterious Garden collection, which references the secret gardens of European stately homes.

While pearls remained the undisputed stars of the collection, be they luscious Akoya cultured pearls or rare pink conch pearls, Mikimoto jewellery designer Noriko Ota also incorporated fine coloured stones such as peridots, tourmalines, garnets, spinels, emeralds and sapphires to create a collection of 40 rather Baroque pieces, including many brooches. 

The jeweller displayed intricate craftsmanship with tiny diamonds for example decorating a wrought iron gate on a brooch or with the use of a plique-à-jour technique (vitreous enamelling applied in cells without backing) to create a luminescent green foliage on another brooch.

Several whimsical pieces tell a story, such as three sapphire doves flying above a cobbled yard of diamonds in the direction of a mimosa tree in full bloom, or a majestic swan (its body created by an oddly shaped pearl) gliding over water with marquise-shaped diamonds subtly evoking ripples.