Cartier Ushers in An Era Of Theatricality With Nature Sauvage High Jewelry Collection

In Vienna, Austria, Cartier revealed its latest jewelry collection, an expressive line characterized by designs inspired by mystical animal motifs. 

Nature Sauvage sees many iconic Cartier animals and breathes new life into their stories. The turtle, panther, crocodile, flamingo, and snow leopard are captured in moments of time and contained within the brilliant diamonds, emeralds, and rubies of the Cartier collection, memorializing the theatre and poetry of the natural world inside an evocative high jewelry line. 

The house revealed that the heir to the Cartier name, Louis Cartier, lived and worked in Vienna throughout the 1930s and established a powerful connection to the region. Drawing on this, the brand opted to host the exhibition in the city, infusing the house's heritage into the newest collection—which aims to incorporate new emblematic motifs into the label's storied history. Thus, the setting of the Nature Sauvage launch both evokes a past era of Cartier and also acts as a fresh, bold beginning.

Creatures long valued to Cartier like the panther, zebra, and flamingo make an appearance in the Nature Sauvage collection, reinforcing their magnetism as emblematic motifs within the Maison.

The panther, perhaps the most iconic Cartier animal, has remained a powerful presence within numerous high jewelry lines since its introduction in the early 20th century. Originally crafted after inspiration from a safari struck, the panther has appeared in jewelry and precious objects gifted to royalty and worn by the most revered celebrities of the past century. In its newest iteration in the Nature Sauvage collection, the panther is tamed, as the animal's form takes on the shape of a bold bracelet, complete with an attached eight-karat emerald ring. Hundreds of miniature diamonds make up the panther's coat, with sapphire-flecked detailing and bright emerald eyes. The flowing, shapely design of the Panthère Jaillissante piece offers a sense of dynamism owing to its feline motif, at once paying homage to the history of the animal and bringing it forth into the Maison's newest era of design. 

Meanwhile, the zebra and flamingo return from the Cartier archive with several fresh, contemporary designs. Animal-inspired jewelry has been a mainstay of the Maison since its humble beginnings in the late 19th century, so the return of these motifs in the 21st century comes as no surprise to longtime wearers and admirers of the house's high jewelry. The zebra takes on the shape of an elegant onyx-striped necklace, with diamonds trailing down the neck on either side and converging in the center, where a dazzling six-karat pear-cut ruby shines front and center. Unlike the bold zebra motif, the flamingo is concealed among a geometric diamond-laden reed design, where emeralds and aquamarine stones are set in place, evoking the lush, verdant greenery and the aquatic elements of the flamingo's natural habitat. The necklace, which features the expansive reed motif as the main body, culminates in a daunting 38-karat square-cut aquamarine stone. 

Through a striking use of geometry and startling symmetry, the silhouettes of the Nature Sauvage collection come to life, ushering in a sense of rhythm, movement, and eternal life through the spirits of the creatures captured in each motif. Art Deco patterns, reptilian scales, and swirling crystalline designs come together in the collection, mingling in the viewer's eye as they bring forth harmony and sensory wonder. 

Each piece is imbued with its own personality owing to its respective animalistic inspiration, and through abstract architectural components and precisely cut stones, a unique sense of playfulness and unbridled joy emerges while on its wearer. 

The collection, as presented in Vienna, consists of over 80 high jewelry pieces, but as the line grows and evolves in the future, it is expected that over 100 additional creations will join the nature-inspired body of dazzling jewelry.