François Garaude: Jewelry as a Journey François Garaude s source of inspiration are his travels, discoveries and encounters. The message contained in the jewelry, its style, design and the choice of stones, all reflect the patient yearning to explore that has always guided his steps towards new horizons with curiosity and tenacity. The Visible and the Invisible By the late 1960s the Western world had become unhinged and began to see red. François Garaude, who lived in the quiet middle-class district of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, took this bolt from the blue like a shot in the arm. May 68 called him irresistibly towards the open seas, to India first of all. Each new day presented a new challenge, each encounter a danger, a path to perdition... or a fantastic discovery. It mattered not which; the unexpected was as adrenaline to François Garaude and he discovered a country where rites and beliefs patterned people s thinking and changed lives. He understood that in India, spirituality took precedence over everything, that it explained everything, justified everything. François Garaude s adventure had turned into a spiritual quest, but it was rudely interrupted by the illness that brought him back to France. After this experience, he held within himself a great treasure: the desire to give meaning to all things. The journey would continue, in a different direction. Was it a sign? In his pockets were a topaz and a moonstone that he had brought back with him: his first talismans. The First Emerald Back in France, François Garaude set to studying architecture, philosophy and cinema. While he was still studying, the young man built a 14 meter boat and embarked on a fantastic journey across the Atlantic between France and Brazil. It was there that he met the girl who would become his wife. To occupy his time while waiting to return to Europe with her, François Garaude went to discover the emeralds of Bahia. And that is when everything changed. Fascinated by these exceptional stones, he quickly became a specialist. First he sold a single stone, then several, then a batch. The future jeweler had got into trading. He decided to make a career of it, traveling to the most beautiful mining regions of the world - Colombia, Sri Lanka, Burma. Closer to Natural Beauty The gems are chosen for their natural beauty - none are treated or heated - their brilliance, their infinite range of shades, and their imperfections too. In both Asian and Western cultures, they carry a strong emotional appeal. They possess a significance that never fails to delight François Garaude, who is always on the lookout for the meaning contained in an object. For him, cool colors like the blue of the sapphire symbolize precision and analysis, the bright red of the ruby evokes passion, while green represents activity, and the diamond omniscience... In each piece of jewelry, the stone takes on a personal meaning. François Garaude came back from his travels with a vision of the universe that resembles a discovery of the planet. Domes, circles and balls positioned in line with the four cardinal points; flexible and simple jewelry; almost untreated, or structured and very ordered: these feature inspire the creations with theire evocative names - India, Renaissance, Cardinale, Orbitale, Hokusai and Byzance. 1
In the Hokusai collection, the beauty and power of nature unleashed is expressed in contrast with the refinement of Japanese art. The famous Great Wave off Kanagawa hurtles towards the heavens, its crest a foam of diamonds. Contained within a circle as two halves, it evokes Yin and Yang: the movement being the chased titanium and the light, the diamond. This exceptionally lightweight picture-jewelry is worked on very fine cast titanium whose ripples resemble the furrows of Japanese gardens. 18 K pink gold and titanium ring, 50 diamonds 0,14 ct 1800 Titanium earrings, 300 diamonds, 1,35 cts 6990 5
The inspiration behind this collection was the earth, when it was not yet understood to be spherical, but was perceived as a disc resting on water. The collection has been designed all in circles, like a two-dimensional vision. The cardinal points are marked by four diamonds around the stone. Very subtle lines emphasize the lightness and simplicity of the jewels comprising the Cardinale collection. They also have great sensuality thanks to the soft lavender jade, the milky hues of the moonstone and the misty tones of chalcedony, calling to mind the light filtering through a sea haze. The four cardinal diamonds recall François Garaude s crossing of the Atlantic, when his only point of reference in the vast ocean was his compass. 18 K pink gold ring, 17,36 cts lavender jade and 7 diamonds, 0,12 ct 3800 18 K yellow gold pendant, 4 diamonds, 0,36 cts 1200 2 2
Designed subsequent to the Cardinale collection, consisting entirely of circles and halfspheres, the Orbitale line expands into curves and globes, expressing fullness and perfection. From the Cardinale collection s two-dimensional view of the world, we now come to a threedimensional perspective, as though it has finally been discovered that the earth is round and rotates on itself. In this heavenly collection, the stones have been placed into orbit on gold rings. The finger caresses these precious balls, causing them to roll on their axis. Alone in the midst of four diamonds, or grouped into a constellation of four, the stones are always at the heart of a metaphor, that of the cardinal points. And if the ancients believed that the planets influenced human behavior, could the little spheres revolving on these talisman jewels give direction to our lives? 18 K pink gold earrings, 8 coral beads, 15,88 cts 1700 18 K Blackned gold ring, a 11,94 cts quartz bead and 7 white diamonds, 0,39 cts 1900 4
In this collection greatly inspired by Byzantine architecture, François Garaude continues his journey, in search of a new revolution of the sphere, which he deconstructs in order to rebuild differently. There is great sensuality to the dome-shaped stones that call us to gaze upon themor explore them by touch. This sensuality is the main inspiration behind the collection and lies at the heart of the creations. 18 K pink gold ring, 5 malachite, 7,41 cts 3400 18 K pink gold pendent, 4 lapis-lazuli, 32,9 cts and one diamond, 0,32 ct 5400 3 3
The Archbishop collection belongs to that category of jewels that are not designed to be purely decorative, but to send out a message too. It reflects François Garaude s line of thinking on jewelry, which is to give meaning to the jewels, to speak of symbols and to leave one s mark. The Archbishop rings profess a marked turning point, at the risk of displaying impertinence. Opulent, they affirm that beauty can be immoderate and provocative. With their cross shape, the Vatican rings both impress and disturb, so much do they echo the pomp displayed by certain popes and men of the Church. Distantly echoing that thrilling appeal of gold and precious stones, impertinence is expressed in the Vatican rings like a bolt of lightning. Their large tubular cross is riveted to an outsize mount. The heart and ends of the cross are set with cabochons in bright, concentrated hues: tapered Burmese rubies and gray spinels in the gold version; a Colombian emerald surrounded by Burmese sapphires and red spinels in the gold rimmed silver version. It is beautiful bright red spinels that adorn the Vatican Sportmodel too. With its hand-brushed silver mount, it calls to mind the cool and rigorous modernity of industrial mechanics. Its bold new futuristic form, its contoured, sinewy mount, and the sober luster of the metal produce a rough and pointy remake of the Vatican that belies the religious silhouette of the other ring. However, one cannot work without the other, like twin sisters who have taken two entirely different directions in life. The Archbishop rings boast an ultra-contemporary look that holds its own and display an ardent devotion to uniqueness and exceptionality. Silver 18 L yellow gold ring, «no oil» Columbian emerald, 3,44 cts, 4 non heated Burma sapphirs, 11,04 cts, 4 red spinels, 11,51 cts Please contact us for the price Hand-brushed silver ring, 9 red spinels, 29,05 cts Please contact us for the price 6
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