Vicenzaoro Highlights, January 2023: Dior Joaillerie is Color, Quality, Purity
Dominique Dufermont, Stones Service Manager at Dior, reveals how stones are chosen to achieve extraordinary masterpieces of haute joaillerie
What is Dior Joaillerie's mission in choosing stones? How do you combine emotion and business? How important is the economic value of the stone in terms of its intrinsic characteristics and which stones should we “bet on” for the future? All questions that we asked Dominique Dufermont on Saturday at the talk “The Secrets of Couture that Inspire Jewelry”. «Color intensity is our main driver when choosing stones because Victoire de Castellane, designer and creative director of Dior Joaillerie, is a color specialist. She likes to play with colors and we always try to find the purest and most unusual color on the market. It is her touch, her identity, her signature. When we buy a stone, we don’t look at the economic value because what we are always seeking is purity of color. Of course, we can't ignore the needs of the market or the customer, but as a gemstone buyer, my job is to find the right balance between these demands, that of color and the best possible quality, bear- ing in mind their “wearability”. We can’t only mount 50-carat stones! Collections have to be balanced between more “affordable” jewelry and exceptional pieces, a bit like our own lives. Sometimes you buy sneakers to be comfortable, other times a stiletto to be very elegant. The same principle applies to jewelry. We mount stones on exceptional pieces as well as on affordable pieces, but quality is never undermined. As for the stones I would bet on, it’s hard to say, although I can take as an example what happened in 2007 with spinel from Tanzania. We started using it and then, as if by magic, it grew on the market. Right now, we looking at garnets, which are undervalued, but if you look at the color market, when a stone is of excellent quality, color and cut, it never loses value. The same goes for other requirements such as refraction, brilliance and translucency. With colored gemstones, if you want to go far with creativity while maintaining a very high quality, you can do so by “pushing” different buttons. And this allows us to aim high when creating.»