Transformability, heritage and bold colour define 2026 high jewellery

From Place Vendome to Valenza, jewellery houses are unveiling their latest high jewellery collections, and several clear themes emerge. Transformability continues to dominate, with pieces designed to be worn in multiple ways treated less as a technical flourish than as a core design principle. Heritage is equally prominent, with several houses drawing on their archives and founding stories for inspiration – from Boucheron’s biographical portrait of its founder to Pomellato’s decade-by-decade exploration of its design DNA.

Colour, too, is bolder and more adventurous than in recent seasons. Paraiba tourmalines appear across multiple collections, while tanzanite and mandarin garnet also feature prominently. Chaumet, meanwhile, revives grand feu enamel to deliver rich, saturated colour. Elsewhere, Cartier and Graff show that clean lines and exceptional stones can be just as impactful as more intricate designs. Together, these eight maisons offer a vivid snapshot of high jewellery today.

DIOR

For Belle Dior, Dior Joaillerie artistic director Victoire de Castellane returns to the poetic codes that have long defined the maison’s jewellery. The 57-piece haute joaillerie collection draws on Monsieur Dior’s love of gardens, femininity and couture, translating these influences into jewels that feel light, animated and almost dreamlike. Braids – one of de Castellane’s recurring signatures – are reimagined as swaying pendants and vertical flourishes that evoke flowering stems, celestial movement and the unmistakable drape of Dior ballgowns.

Colour plays a central role here. The Jardins Multicolores suite returns in vivid greens and powder pinks, while Dearest Dior is refreshed with richer, more hypnotic tones, including the captivating depth of tanzanite. The Soleil Celeste set nods to Monsieur Dior’s fascination with the divinatory arts, pairing yellow diamonds with stars and moons carved from black opal doublets layered over turquoise in transformable designs. The standout is the Milly Dentelle ring, a spectacular creation set with a 6.5-carat cushion-cut pink spinel solitaire. Transforming into a flower, it fittingly encapsulates Belle Dior’s romance, artistry and enchantment.

BOUCHERON

For Histoire de Style 2026 – Nom: Boucheron Prenom: Frederic, creative director Claire Choisne turns to the maison’s founder through a four-piece high jewellery collection conceived as a biographical portrait. Each creation reflects a defining chapter of Frederic Boucheron’s legacy. The Address reinterprets an archival necklace, its pendant echoing the octagonal geometry of Place Vendome, where Boucheron became the first jeweller to establish a boutique in 1893. Set in white gold and diamonds against graphic black lacquer, the piece is anchored by a 10.01-carat D Flawless emerald-cut diamond, while its central motif detaches to become a ring.

Next, The Spark revisits the maison’s iconic clasp-less Question Mark necklace. First created in 1879, this reimagined version takes the form of a cascade of eight diamonds in varied geometric cuts, culminating in a 5.01-carat kite-shaped stone. The Silhouette underscores Boucheron’s long-standing fascination with versatility and transformability. Incorporating more than seven metres of bezel-set diamonds, the sculptural creation can be worn in six ways – as a choker, a double sautoir or a pair of bracelets. Completing the quartet is The Untamed, an ode to Boucheron’s love of naturalistic ivy in the form of an extra-long Question Mark necklace in diamond-set white gold and rock crystal. The piece required 2,600 hours of craftsmanship.

CHAUMET

This year, Chaumet returns to one of its most enduring motifs with Envol, a high jewellery collection built around wings as symbols of freedom, power and self-expression. The theme draws on a long line of winged pieces in the maison’s history, from early 19th-century tiaras linked to Empress Josephine’s fascination with birds to Belle Epoque jewels and a spectacular diamond and blue plique-a-jour enamel wing-shaped tiara once owned by American art patron and collector Gertrude Payne Whitney. That heritage is distilled into nine pieces rendered almost entirely in grand feu enamel, reviving one of Chaumet’s hallmark techniques in luminous shades of the house’s signature blue.

Versatility lies at the heart of the collection. Set with a 3.92-carat pear-shaped Madagascar sapphire, the aigrette tiara required 850 hours of work and can be worn in four ways – as a tiara, a mask or separate brooches. A long transformable necklace, accented with degrade blue enamel and a 10.96-carat cushion-cut Madagascar sapphire, can also be worn as a brooch. A miniature jewellery watch, meanwhile, converts into either a bedside clock or a pendant suspended from a pearl sautoir. Earrings, rings and unisex brooches extend this sense of movement and metamorphosis, making Envol feel deeply rooted in Chaumet’s history yet strikingly modern in its lightness and grace.

CARTIER

The third and final chapter of Cartier’s En Equilibre Collection presents high jewellery as a masterclass in balance – between volume and restraint, symmetry and asymmetry, and subtle shades and bold chromatic contrasts. Here, harmony is not about softness but precision – a measured interplay of opposing forces that has long defined the maison’s design language. This chapter unfolds through four necklaces, each offering its own interpretation of that idea.

Euphonia arranges emerald-cut rubies and diamonds in a rhythmic, geometric dialogue, while an adjustable clasp lends the piece added fluidity. Splendea pursues purity of line, bringing together 34 perfectly matched diamonds whose near-invisible settings create the illusion of an uninterrupted ribbon of light. Parcae expresses Cartier’s nothing-in-excess philosophy, spotlighting three pear-shaped Madagascar sapphires totalling 16.59 carats within a delicate lattice of diamond strands. The most vibrant of the quartet, Ondora combines chrysoprase, spinels, turquoise and diamonds in a fluid composition inspired by jellyfish and enhanced by the maison’s long-standing mastery of transformable jewellery.

GRAFF

Graff’s latest high jewellery suite draws inspiration from the moment a single water droplet falls onto a still, iridescent pool, translating that fleeting instant of impact, ripple and refraction into precious stones. The centrepiece is a commanding choker built around a rare 31-carat unheated emerald-cut sapphire and surrounded by more than 200 carats of Graff diamonds. Emerald-cut diamonds form a luminous, seamless surface engineered for an uninterrupted flow of light, while pear-shaped diamonds and sapphires radiate from the central stone like concentric ripples frozen in motion.

A pair of earrings completes the set, cascading with emerald-cut and pear-shaped diamonds and pear-shaped sapphires, each anchored by a five-carat emerald-cut sapphire. The result is a suite that captures Graff’s flair for drama through lustre, symmetry and controlled movement.

POMELLATO

Collezione 1967, Pomellato’s most ambitious high jewellery collection to date, is presented as a decade-by-decade journey through the house’s history. Divided into three chapters – The Chain Revolution (1970s), Breaking the Rules of Design (1980s) and The Chromatic Vision (1990s) – the collection revisits Pomellato’s archival chain constructions and signature goldsmithing techniques.

The 1970s chapter elevates Pomellato’s trademark chain-link work into dazzling diamond-pave creations. Among them is the Blue Chain Cascade necklace, with its innovative dual-chain construction centred on a 22.23-carat Ceylon sapphire. A companion piece in rose gold is anchored by a 22.58-carat mandarin garnet. The Aquamarine Dream necklace reimagines the forcat chain with degrade links that graduate in size and cradle a 37.98-carat cabochon aquamarine.

The 1980s chapter embraces asymmetry and irregular cuts, led by the Asimmetrico Tanzanite necklace. It features 78 individually crafted articulated modules requiring 700 hours of work, all arranged around a 55.96-carat irregular-cut tanzanite.

The 1990s chapter celebrates Pomellato’s hallmark use of colour through the Lagoon Bavarole, set with 47 green tourmalines; an array of 10 pairs of Marvellous Griffes earrings spanning hues from mandarin garnet to indigolite; and the voluminous Iconica Extreme suite in diamond-set rose gold.

HARRY WINSTON

Harry Winston is not a jeweller typically associated with street art, which makes Graffiti – the latest chapter in its New York Collection – such an unexpected proposition. Inspired by the creative pulse of downtown Manhattan, the line reimagines the house initials as bold, blocky motifs that echo the energy of urban lettering. Set in diamonds and coloured gemstones, the exaggerated H.W. design balances angular lines with the refinement expected of Harry Winston, bringing a sense of fun and attitude to the pieces.

The high jewellery line spans earrings, pendants, a bracelet and brooches in several colourways. Standout versions are set with pink sapphires and diamonds, blue sapphires and diamonds, or rendered entirely in diamonds. A brooch combining pink sapphires and Paraiba tourmalines offers a vivid nod to Soho’s art scene, reinforcing the collection’s connection to the city that inspires it. Expressive, graphic and undeniably bold, Graffiti shows that even a storied house like Harry Winston can still find fresh ways to channel glamour.

DAMIANI

With Ode all’Italia (Italian for Ode to Italy), the Valenza-based house turns high jewellery into a celebration of the country’s landscapes, architecture and atmosphere. Conceived as an emotional journey through Italy’s most iconic settings, the collection is structured around three themes: Lights of the Sea, inspired by Mediterranean coastal beauty; Landscapes of the Soul, which looks to the hinterland’s hills, lakes and volcanoes; and Dwellings of Time, a tribute to the country’s storied cities of art.

A standout creation from Lights of the Sea is the Marea Rosa necklace. Set with 97 navette-cut morganites evoking Sardinia’s pink sands and 78 marquise-cut diamonds, the fluid white- and pink-gold composition centres on an extraordinary 46.71-carat oval Paraiba tourmaline from Mozambique in a vivid green-blue hue.

From Landscapes of the Soul, the Dolce Stil Novo necklace captures the poetry of Tuscany’s rolling countryside with a 31.46-carat Colombian emerald in a vivid green Muzo hue. It can also be transformed into a shorter necklace and a bracelet.

Inspired by the Pantheon’s dome and St. Peter’s Basilica, the Aethernitas necklace from Dwellings of Time features a detachable circular pendant set with a 5.01-carat fancy yellow-green diamond that can also be worn as a brooch.