Jean-Christophe Bédos and Dale Brown
The venerable French jewelry house of Boucheron knows a good thing when it comes along … somewhere in the intersection of chic and continental, where whimsy and luxury can happily coexist. So of course they chose to locate their only U.S. venue in San Francisco. And so, like the unabashed Eloise in Paris, we summoned up our high-school French and rang up Paris to ask their President and CEO, Jean-Christophe Bédos, a little bit about the bibelots of Boucheron.
To our delight, it turns out that they love San Francisco as much as we love Paris. “San Francisco is a vibrant and cultural city whose inhabitants appreciate the values of Houses such as Boucheron,” says Jean-Christophe. “The state of California has the sixth strongest GDP in the world. In addition, as a High-Jewelry House, it is customary for the sales staff and the pieces to fly all over the country and show to potential clients in the discretion of their homes and hotels, rather than the clients coming to the boutique to view the unique pieces.”
So, why not be based in our fair city?
Jean-Christophe gives a special nod to boutique manager Dale Brown, “one of our most service-minded colleagues, who will always do his best for clients.”
Does that mean we can walk into the boutique with our stash of jewels and commission Boucheron to create pieces around them? Legend says that the Maharajah of Patiala did just that in 1928 and emerged with 149 original Boucheron beauties. Apparently we could, but only with original designs, not copies from the past.
“We celebrated the House’s 150th anniversary last year,” Jean-Christophe continues, “so our historic designs are very important to us, as they are in our DNA and heritage. We are following our tradition of ceaseless innovation and use historic pieces as inspiration, but we do not revive them. We are not interested in copying or reproducing the past.” In other words, I can’t order up the Queen Mum tiara, or the necklace from Napoleon III’s mistress? No, but the busy bees at Boucheron want to make something just for me, Eloise.
“We create contemporary jewelry, which will be relevant for our contemporary clientele.” That would include the latest Macaron collection of confectionary-colored covetables inspired by the teatime treat. (Eloise wants one in every color. Nanny would settle for the pink-jeweled cookie with a little “nibble” out of the side on a lovely white gold chain.) And if the charming Monsieur Bédos could have his pick? “My favorite piece is always the next one to come!” But he wouldn’t tell us what that will be. We think we’ll just take our dog and turtle for a walk past 230 Post Street to press our noses against the window. Oooooh! I just love surprises! Don’t you?
Jennifer Raiseris very happy that her middle name, in French, is “Madeleine
