Cartier’s Grain de Café collection, an ode to the glamorous French Riviera
Cartier reawakens its symbol of Riviera sophistication with the Grain de Café collection.
Another gem inspired by the radiant beauty of the past, Cartier’s Grain de Café collection is a sun-kissed ode to the glamour of the French Riviera that evokes the allure of Grace Kelly. Transforming the humble coffee bean into a dazzling solar collection, it fuses the Maison’s double elements of flora crafted in yellow gold with the ordinary made precious.
Among the collection of rings, pendants, earrings and brooches embellished with entrancing clusters of coffee bean motifs and fiery diamonds set in white gold, Cartier is reissuing a 1955 necklace to honour the creative history of Grain de Café and the visionary spirit of Jeanne Toussaint, the Maison’s Creative Director from 1933.
To inject the golden clusters with mobility and sensuality, the jewellers intentionally created hollow grains composed of both curved and arched parts to minimise impact between them. Furthermore, their smooth or gadrooned surfaces are enlivened using a hand-polish method, perfected by a team of 30 craftsmen and from an excess of 60 prototypes.
“Grain de Café creates a new preciousness by playing with light, finishes and volumes... The result is a versatile collection with added spirit. A symbol of the creative freedom of the Maison, Grain de Café transcends a literal translation of nature and results in a multisensory design,” says Marie-Laure Cérède, Creative Director of Jewellery and Watchmaking.
Debuted in 1938, Cartier’s coffee bean design was a sensational success in the 1950s and 1960s, courtesy of the iconic duo of Jeanne Toussaint and Grace Kelly, a charismatic actress turned princess. A real-life event of fairy-tale proportion, Prince Rainier III of Monaco presented his bride Kelly with a Grain de Café set for their wedding which she embraced as wholeheartedly as the rest of her Cartier creations. In collaboration with director Alex Prager, the Grain de Café campaign stars actress and Cartier Global Ambassador Elle Fanning as the modern Grain de Café woman whose charismatic essence derives from the connection linking Grace Kelly, the French Riviera and the chic opulence of the 1950s.
