Repair of the century – Style – Kommersant

On the eve of Christmas, the rue de la Paix (aka Peace Street) took over from the Parisian museums – the queues here stretch from morning to evening. A special stir is opposite the house 13, where at the end of October, after a two-year renovation, the Cartier boutique was reopened.

The boutique has grown to six floors and occupied the entire building. From now on, the store, the archives, the jewelry workshops, the customer services, and the apartments coexist under the same roof, and every square centimeter here proclaims: “Both I and I are the great history of Cartier.”

It began at this address in 1899, when Louis Cartier, the eldest of the three sons of the founding father Alfred, who took over the helm of the family business, moved Cartier to the center of the jewelry trade, where all overseas customers flocked. Following Louis XIV – the title of “jeweler of kings” obliges to comply – Louis Cartier ordered the facade of the building to be faced with black marble. For more than a century, he had never seen any duchesses, queens, baronesses with their companions! That marble was preserved. And in the showcases, special mannequin sculptures were made to match him. They are made of raw materials: wood, wax, plaster – and left unfinished, as if halfway through. The forms of a female collarbone are already looming, on which an incredible emerald lies, but the line breaks – and the emerald continues to lie majestically on an unhewn stump or stone. Natural material is chosen as the starting point of all metamorphoses: when creating a jewelry masterpiece or interiors.

Inside the boutique, the wooden paneling of the walls has been preserved – the famous boiserie, a sure sign of the thoroughbred Paris, with which Cartier wants to be associated. The restored offices on the basement floor are ghosts of history come to life. A century ago, the space of a boutique was thought of as a labyrinth of secluded offices, where, in an atmosphere of trust, clients placed their incredible orders. One of these rooms is the Cocteau salon. Today, museum specimens from the heritage of the house are presented here. In particular, the honorary sword of the French writer, artist and friend of all bohemian Paris, Jean Cocteau, which he was awarded when he was admitted to the academician of the Institute of France. Cocteau drew the design himself, and Cartier clothed it in precious stones: emeralds, rubies, diamonds. Next door is Louis Cartier’s salon. The former study of the owner of the house, where the unhurried legacy of the beginning of the last century with a library is reproduced, crowns the interiors of the men’s wing of the restored boutique. One floor above is the salon of Jeanne Toussaint, creator of the legendary panther, which has become a symbol of the house. Even the chest of drawers – and all the furniture for the boutique is made to order – reproduces her favorite print.

The zones are clearly marked, but there are no hints of borders: one hall smoothly flows into another. 3 teams and more than 30 artisans worked on the renovation project (marquetry, lacquer, mosaics, screens, reliefs – priceless hands that are worth their weight in gold in France). The planning of the first three levels, that is, the sales areas directly, was carried out by the Moinard Betaille agency. For over 20 years they have been decorating Cartier boutiques around the world, from London to Tokyo. Modern design, light and verticality are the three components of their design. The meeting of these components is most clearly visible in the atrium, which is decorated in the style of the courtyard of an Ottoman house. Only in the Parisian well-yards is darkness, but here everything is flooded with light and you can see all six floors of the building. The light leads the client from showcase to showcase, which are made in the form of chests of drawers, from one icon to another: Tank watches, Santos de Cartier, Baignoire in different variations, Juste un clou nails, Cactus de Cartier cacti and accessories rule the roost on the lowest floor.

Above is more. The second floor is the kingdom of white diamonds, it is completely dedicated to wedding jewelry. The third is collections of high jewelry art. The exclusivity of the offer is matched by exclusive salons, completely hidden from prying eyes (the work of architects from Studioparisien). Each contains the world of Cartier in miniature: archives, drawings, photographs, prototypes. Here are the first fittings and receiving the coveted work. For its spectacular appearance, a special display cabinet has been prepared. The sashes open, and the decoration in all its glory appears before the customer.

The current retail standards dictate that the client be treated almost more gently after the sale than before, so a separate floor is dedicated to special services: maintenance, personalization, etc.

And finally, under the very roof, there are Cartier apartments, signed by fashionable interior designer Laura Gonzalez. Not a trace of the shop remains. You find yourself in a modern Parisian apartment, more precisely, in its guest part. A riot of colors, a tropical forest, luxury materials and fabrics are selected in the tradition of eclecticism. Salon, dining room, kitchen and winter garden are ready to receive clients and their friends for private events.

For the re-opening of the boutique, five collection pieces of high jewelry based on Panthere de Cartier with the engraving “13 Paix” were created. Peace – at any price.

Maria Sidelnikova