For the Hermès high jewellery collection, Pierre Hardy defies convention to play games with shadows

The brand’s creative director for jewellery tells Tatler why he turned to the dark side for the Hermès high jewellery collection Les Jeux de l'Ombre

Pierre Hardy does like to do things differently. In the world of jewellery, where the standard “Four Cs”—cut, clarity, colour and carat—are metrics used to measure how brilliantly gemstones shine, only he would decide to create a high jewellery collection for Hermès inspired by the darkness of shadows.

“We always talk about light and sparkle in jewellery, so I wanted to take the opposite approach,” said Hardy, who is the brand’s creative director for jewellery. “In the performing arts, I’ve always loved the incandescent effect of the spotlights as well as the shadows they cast onto the stage floor. I find this distortion of light very appealing. The collection is a response to this desire: to poeticise the form taken by shadows.”

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This collection, named Les Jeux de l’Ombre (games of shadows), was launched in Shanghai in late April, and in true Hermès style, the pieces were unveiled after an artistic performance. In this case, it was a musical performance that began with hushed whispers and crescendoed to layered, multi-part singing, as the performers moved in and out of the spotlight and between a curtain lit in rich, gem-like hues.

It was an audio and visual representation of the jewellery pieces, which feature stones—sometimes rough-cut, and ranging from diamonds and sapphires to moonstones and tourmalines—set against a “shadow”, often a deep black canvas of black jade or titanium.

Above Chaine d'Ombre necklace (Photo: courtesy of Hermès)

Above Couleurs du Jour Necklace (Photo: courtesy of Hermès)

“You could say that the shadow extends the very regulated world of jewellery; it offers a reverse perspective,” Hardy explains. “By incorporating the shadow into the pieces, I’m looking to make a precious element of something that on the face of it isn’t precious ... Any object is beautiful when placed against a dark background. The contrast effect heightens its power.”

For the “shadows” themselves, the creative director’s choices were particularly inspired; when jewellers use black in their creations, the most popular choices tend to be black spinels and onyx. While Hardy did use the former in this collection, he also used black jade and black satin-finish titanium in flat black swathes to amplify the brilliance of the gemstones in the foreground. Black titanium is often used in watches, but the satin-brush effect gives it a much softer look and feel here. The Lueurs du Jour rings, earrings and necklace use black jade in their geometric shadow designs, while the Ombres Mobiles pieces use titanium, set into rose gold.

Above Ombres Mobiles cuff (Photo: courtesy of Hermès)

Above Lueurs du Jours earrings (Photo: courtesy of Hermès)

Hardy also made an interesting creative decision in the collection’s Lumières Brutes series, which includes rings and earrings set with rough, uncut stones.

“It’s been a dream of mine: to leave the stones as they are. It came from something I experienced when visiting a gem-cutter, who showed me diamonds and tourmalines. When I shone my phone’s flashlight on them, the light cast shapes around each of them,” he explains. “I have simply highlighted the shadow projected by the stone. Projecting light onto a rough stone is a revelation, a wondrous experience.”

The collection includes several key necklaces, one of which is the Chaîne d’Ombre”, a head-turner of a piece that features white diamonds, black spinels and blue sapphires, and required 2,000 hours of work, 700 of which were devoted to gemsetting. There’s also the Miroir d’Ombre”, which resembles a delicate necklace of yellow and white diamonds “rising” from its shadow of blue sapphires, as well as the mechanical Couleurs du Jour necklace, a movable geometrical piece, with black jade and black spinel outer panels that open to reveal bright inner panels in white mother-of-pearl, set with diamonds, peridots, amethysts, tourmalines, aquamarines, spessartite garnets and moonstone.

Above Circuit de Lumière necklace (Photo: Courtesy of Hermès)

“I always wonder how women will wear my jewellery and how they will see themselves through these lights and shadows. I hold up a mirror to their freedom and picture them playing with their transformations,” Hardy says. “While normally everything is a matter of intensity, radiance and reflection, I went in search of the opposite by giving form to the shadows they cast.”

It is one of the brand’s most memorable jewellery collections. Whether you love it or are surprised by it, it’s nevertheless a testament to Hardy’s artistry and audacity, and a reminder that we should never be afraid to explore our darker sides.

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Hermès Pierre Hardy Les Jeux de l'Ombre Jewellery Shadows

Tatler Asia

For the Hermès high jewellery collection, Pierre Hardy defies convention to play games with shadows