The new big thing for French haute joaillerie is “l’appartement”, where brands offer an “at home” atmosphere to captivate clients, encouraging them to linger while they shop. It began with Louis Vuitton’s invitation-only space above its Bond Street store. Cartier recently renovated its London flagship to include La Residence, which has a boudoir, dining room and bar. These spaces, designed to simulate home away from home, recreate the feeling of drawing rooms. But none have included a bedroom, until now.
“Do you know any home where you can’t welcome friends and family to sleep?” asks Boucheron chief executive Hélène Poulit-Duquesne. Luxury living, she believes, is all very well, but to foster a family atmosphere you need home comforts. Together with the house’s creative director Claire Choisne (Boucheron is the only French high jewellery house to boast two females at the helm), she has conceived a client apartment at 26 Place Vendôme that includes a bedroom, marble-clad bathroom — and pets. Poulit-Duquesne’s cats have the run of the offices, much like the Boucherons’ beloved black-furred Wladimir did when the family moved into the property as the first jewellers on the square in 1893.
The townhouse, built c1717, has been subject to Poulit-Duquesne’s radical renovation since 2016; false ceilings have been stripped away, historical decorative elements restored and a glass-domed winter garden added. But the most sparkling new feature is the private apartment. Complete with its own entrance, VIP clients are handed the key to the home they call their own for the duration of their stay.