Boucheron Turns Industrial Waste into Jewelry
January 04, 23
(IDEX Online) - Luxury French jeweler Boucheron is using recycled industrial waste - which includes asbestos - in a new collection.
Material that is usually crushed and used for road-building is vitrified - turned into a glassy (and harmless) substance called Cofalit - through heat and fusion.
Claire Choisne, the company's artistic director, saw the potential to cut and polish it for jewelry pieces in a collection named Jack de Boucheron Ultime.
"Cofalit is the complete opposite of what is considered precious in the collective imagination," she said. "I appreciate the radicality and aesthetic appearance of this recycled industrial byproduct, which has reached the end of its life cycle.
"I took inspiration from the fact that this material is deemed to have no further utility. I wanted to restore its value in a lasting way through this capsule collection."
Pix courtesy Boucheron