Some designers revel in making bold statements that you can see from across the room. Others take delight in the small details that you need to discover and appreciate close up. As much as the designs in Tiffany & Co.’s last three Blue Book collections that bear her stamp are undoubtedly head turners, the House’s Chief Artistic Officer Nathalie Verdeille firmly belongs in the latter camp.
Since joining the House in 2021, Verdeille has taken charge of Tiffany & Co.’s high jewellery and fine jewellery universes with a keen sense of the subtle nuances, respecting the brand’s heritage while introducing a design language rooted in detail-oriented craft and a modern point of view. The expanded Bird on a Rock by Tiffany collection, launched earlier this year, exemplifies this tenet.
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It’s the first time that Tiffany & Co. has leveraged the iconography of Jean Schlumberger’s beloved creation to produce a full-fledged collection since it was launched in 1965. Verdeille has undertaken the intimidating task with aplomb. The collection has much to shout about. Newly designed clasps allow women to put on their jewellery without assistance. Hidden tubes on rolo pendants enable the wearer to control which side is displayed at all times. Highly textured, streamlined bangles add sparkle and shape to a wrist stack, yet are still versatile enough to be easily mixed with other bijoux du jour.
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One of the things that show Verdeille’s absolute dedication to her craft is her insistence that the fine jewellery creations be made of platinum, a noble metal usually reserved for high jewellery for its value and purity, not to mention its high temperature melting point that exceeds that of gold.
Cleverly thoughtful and beautifully crafted, the collection distils Verdeille’s quiet finesse into pieces that reward every touch and reveal new facets with every glance. We chat with her to discover the mind behind the masterpieces.
Congratulations on the launch of the Bird on a Rock by Tiffany collection! It has so many surprising features that I’d love to speak to you about, especially the fact that it’s made of platinum.
Thank you! You cannot imagine how much I had to push for it, because no one does fine jewellery in platinum. It’s a difficult metal to work with, and it doesn’t have the same melting point as gold, so it’s difficult to join the two metals. But it was a signature for Schlumberger, and it is a signature of the maison. So for me, it was essential to transmit this savoir-faire.
This must have been quite a feat. The birds’ golden beaks and feet are tiny slivers of gold. It could not have been easy fusing them.
Yes, and because the platinum that is used in the United States is not the same one we use in Europe—it’s whiter, so you don’t have to add rhodium to it—it was essential for us to teach the European vendors how to work the metal. For me, creating a new fine jewellery icon in platinum sends a strong message of modernity, and it’s also beautiful for legacy reasons, because Schlumberger used it all his life at Tiffany. I really enjoy these kinds of details.
I have seen all images of the collection but to experience them firsthand, to touch and feel them, takes my appreciation to another level. Many clever details show that you’ve really thought about how people wear jewellery in their daily lives.
You cannot imagine how happy it makes me to know that you feel and understand how I wanted to transmit emotion. Because it really is about emotion and about engaging the five senses—when you wear it, when you touch it, when you feel the setting, the details on the shank of the rings, the wings.
When you design, are you conscious of having to balance the brand’s rich heritage with your own design sensibilities? I see an evolution from your first Blue Book collection to the latest. The first was very traditional and in complete homage to Schlumberger. The most recent one definitely had more of you in it.
I recently thought about this, and of course, it’s retrospective. I mean, the first year, I think I was really focused on respect. How can I respect what Schlumberger did and follow closely in that legacy? But now that I understand Tiffany and the brand’s strengths, I have allowed myself more freedom to be creative. With the third Blue Book collection, there’s a good balance of Schlumberger, Tiffany and me.
It’s almost like in art where painters practice and verse themselves in the techniques of the Old Masters before they strike out and establish their own style.
You know how Picasso had a lot of periods? Blue, rose, abstract, figurative… we did that in three years. That’s how far we have evolved to create a new chapter for the brand. Schlumberger [designs are] really figurative. I wanted to maintain a majority of those pieces but I also realised that not everybody wants figurative pieces like a big fish or turtle. So I worked between the figurative and the abstract. The seahorse, for example, is an incredible figurative brooch, but Schlumberger did just one brooch; he never did a ring, earrings, or a necklace. Step by step, we expanded that seahorse and created a new chapter: The seahorse necklace, for example, is one that you can split into two parts, and there’s a geometric motif that’s inspired by the crown of its head. And it’s what we did for the Bird on a Rock by Tiffany ring with the repetition of the wing motif. I think it’s modern the way we have moved between abstract, figurative, and semi-figurative.
with diamonds. Photo: Courtesy of Tiffany & Co.
What are some of the things that you are proudest of in the collection?
I’m really happy that people see the beauty of the craft and the functional features that we’ve put into it. Today, you cannot just design something pretty. I can spend six months just on a clasp because I want something people can wear without any help. We’ve also included so many new gem settings in the collection.
I’ve noticed that, even though the collection is not high jewellery, you’ve taken a high jewellery approach to creating it.
High jewellery clients may not be the same as those who buy fine jewellery, but I want them to be able to buy that same beauty that we convey in our Blue Book collection. You know, some brands have different people heading their high and fine jewellery [universes], so I am lucky because I am in charge of high jewellery all the way to our silver collections. And I can tell you that our silver collections have the same attention to detail because I want people who buy silver designs at Tiffany to find a part of that same dream. That’s something I want to spread throughout Tiffany & Co.