Boucheron Just Opened Its First Boutique in the U.S.—Here’s a Look Inside
The New York real estate market is not for the faint of heart. Exacting clients dead set on the right location (location! location!) will bide their time as long as it takes to nab a just-right address. That was the case for utterly Parisian jewelry maison Boucheron, whose first-ever Manhattan boutique just opened its doors at 747 Madison Avenue.
“New York has been on our radar since I joined the company,” according the maison’s CEO Hélène Poulit-Duquesne who started at Boucheron a decade ago. Five years after a search began in earnest (and two after signing a lease), the 3,900-square-foot on Madison Avenue welcomed its first clients. (The same block is also home to Chanel and Boucheron’s fellow Kering brand Pomellato.)
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In the meantime, Poulit-Duquesne and her team were hardy idle; the brand extended its reach in locations where it already had a significant foothold, specifically in Japan, where it had a presence since 1973. It also focused on Korea, Taiwan and China, taking the latter from zero boutiques to 17 during her tenure.
But as the brand’s top high jewelry buyers, the time arrived to turn attention to American clients, who usually would visit the storied Place Vendôme flagship to acquire the imaginative, boundary-pushing one-off creations dreamt up by creative director Claire Choisne. (Her collections have been inspired by everything from Pop Art to the ephemeral nature of flowers. The latest embeds the sound of crashing water within jewels using binary code.)
In the New York boutique, those clients will find decorative elements that echo those in the historic Place Vendôme salon—chandeliers made by French firm Maison Delisle, a green lacquered chest resembling the one that dominates the entry to the Parisian flagship—but its stateside setting plays a large part in the space’s look and feel. The distinctly American take on Art Deco, the design movement that originated in Paris in the early 20th century before migrating across the Atlantic, is a dominant theme, informing elements from the elegant geometry of the boutique’s exterior, with its gleaming glass and metal facade to the warm color palette punctuated by strokes of black lacquer.
According to Poulit-Duquesne, Boucheron designs its boutiques to reflect their settings wherever they are in the world. “Each boutique is different,” she explained. Everything is specific. All the VIP rooms are different, telling different stories in each boutique.” One unifying theme is a comforting, relaxed ambiance. “It is about the feeling of being at home, being in a family home.”
Another consistent theme is the consistent assortment of jewels that reflects the maison’s point of view. A centerpiece of the offering is the Quatre collection, a series of pieces that combine contrasting, layered textures and gold colors, launched 20 years ago this year. “It’s innovative. It’s very recognizable. It so fits perfectly the American taste.” Other favorites are also present, like its cast of jeweled animal characters—Wladimir the Cat, Hopi the Hummingbird—and the Jack collection resembling 18-karat gold cables.
A three-day pop-up exhibition alighted on the Cooper-Hewitt Museum some 30 blocks away from the boutique to celebrate its American debut. For the first time in the US—a complete high jewelry collection from the brand, plus vintage treasures from its heritage collection, like an Art Nouveau diamond and ruby brooch and a bracelet that once belonged to Wallis Simpson.
Now that the house has established a new US foothold, it will extend its domestic reach quickly and steadily. Within the next twelve months, boutiques in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami are on the agenda, according to the CEO, with more to come at a pace of “about two boutiques per year in the US.”
Poulit-Duquesne acknowledges that tackling the US market won’t be done overnight or in a year. “Coming to the US is not a one-shot deal. You have to invest for ten years at minimum to be sure that you have the right presence in the USA.”
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