Droplets of icy water speckle pitch black sand. A roaring waterfall rushes into a swirling chasm. Nerves on fingertips grace the plane of a still river, rippling circles atop a transparent realm. Water is the essential element, the life-giving flow that gushes vitality into our systems—the natural world, the human body. Aqua runs through our very veins. 

‍Boucheron ventures into the way of water with its latest high jewelry collection, Or Bleu: “an ode to the memory of water.” In this collection, Claire Choisne, Boucheron’s creative director, extracts the essence of Iceland in an attempt to harness the raw magnetism of liquid life. From a waterfall, she procures a diamond necklace called “Cascade,” the longest necklace in the French Maison’s history. Flowing down the contours of a body, much like a current drizzles down rocks, “Cascade” is like water itself: simultaneously untamable and controlled.

With Or Bleu, Boucheron harvests every form that water encapsulates, savoring practically every drop. It unsheathes the foam that fizzes on waves’ edges and crashes onto Iceland’s black sand beaches with “Écume,” rings cut from glassy obsidian and white gold. Jagged edges and precise diamond work make these rings appear as if they were carved by erosion itself. Alongside “Eau D’Encre,” a jet-black bracelet with 3-D simulated waves, and "Givre," a frosty stalactite that oozes from the hair to the shoulder, these pieces are clones of water’s rough and violent personalities.

But much like a Gemini, water’s spirit is two-faced. Amongst the ferocity and brute force of a wave break is a gentle oscillation that extends outwards into the tides. “Ondes” takes inspiration from a bead that quietly shatters water’s surface, catalyzing concentric circles that organically crease and bend liquid. The thinness of the rock crystal “Ondes” necklace is akin to a second skin, following the organic activity of the wearer. And what’s water without the foundation it spills onto? “Sable Noir” is Boucheron’s capsule of Iceland’s shores, where sand grains are literally compacted into a sturdy and formidable white gold necklace. With its 26-piece collection, Boucheron’s Or Bleu freezes Iceland’s waters in its most powerful, vulnerable state of matter. The Maison hints that it might not just be a maker of high jewelry, but a master waterbender at that.