Welcome to the Dark Side

Hermès uncovers the beauty that lies in the shadows with its Les Jeux de l’Ombre high jewellery collection

- Annabel Tan

There is no light without darkness. Like two sides of the same coin, one cannot exist without the other. This duality is crucial in the world of jewellery, where often, the focus tends to be on how light illuminates precious stones and materials. For its latest high jewellery collection, French luxury house Hermès has taken a bold and unexpected approach to light by delving into the shadows and celebrating the magic that can be found within.

Les Jeux de l’Ombre (French for “games of shadows”), the new collection by Pierre Hardy, Hermès’s creative director for jewellery, explores the relationship between light and darkness through the movement and form of shadows. “We always talk about light and sparkle in jewellery, so I wanted to take the opposite approach,” Hardy says. “In the performing arts, I’ve always loved the incandescent effect of the spotlights as well as the shadows they cast onto the stage floor. I find this distortion of light very appealing. The collection is a response to this desire: to poeticise the form taken by shadows.”

Unveiled earlier this year in Shanghai, Les Jeux de l’Ombre centres on unique lines and forms. Hardy employs shadows in his designs by manipulating and making them a part of the jewellery. In several of the pieces, stones are set against the soft contours of a black “shadow” extending beyond their edges to create contrast and allow them to stand out even more. At the same time, Hardy’s intention was to increase the surface area of the jewel and flesh it out.