In Les Symboles, Chanel’s four emblems appear as striking jewels that stand out on their own. The camellia is most fully realised here, with sleek, symmetrical, architectural yet modern proportions that reaffirm its timelessness as Chanel’s oldest feminine symbol. The comet gains a dynamic sense of motion, enhanced by shadow effects. Sparkling gemstones highlight the sun’s glow, while the lion, representing positivity and pride, wears a radiant mane. The amulet joins the four symbols as a fifth emblem. Across the 23 pieces, vivid blue, red and orange gemstones bring colour and brilliance to these symbols.
Symmetry shapes the jewels’ design through mirrored arrangements, especially evident in the camellia pieces. The Symbole Camélia Rose brooch features a large camellia bloom with petals carved in glyptic style from a single block of rock crystal. The crystal not only shapes the piece but also enhances the visibility of the camellias and the diamond-set stars below, all set on a base of pink champlevé enamel on rose gold. The main technical challenge was working with the rock crystal. Carved from one piece, it required a perfect polish across its rounded surface—particularly difficult between the petals where the curves are complex. The brooch is attached to two vertical pins for wearing as a brooch, and it includes a Chanel snap hook clasp to convert into a pendant.
The camellia’s curved petals are carved from stone elsewhere in the set: beryls and sapphires form the undulating petals of the Symbole Camélia Solaire necklace, while rose quartz is carved for the Symbole Camélia Rose bracelet.
Chanel treats the bloom differently again in the Symbole Saphir necklace, setting the petals with diamonds rather than carving them, to highlight the camellia’s purity instead of its form. The piece is transformable, built around an unheated 16.42-ct cabochon-cut Sri Lankan sapphire. Sapphires over 10ct at this standard are now extremely rare on the market, which makes the stone as much a technical statement as a decorative one.
The camellia itself carries a 2.42-ct cabochon sapphire, matched in quality and colour to its larger counterpart. Its upper petals are set with 20 made-to-measure diamonds totalling 4.16ct, each cut to follow the conical curve of the petal it sits on. The necklace is also set with other made to measure stones— sapphire, turquoise and onyx, cut into shapes ranging from square to elongated—with an emerald-cut diamond marking both the front amulet and the clasp. A cut-to-plan turquoise runs along the tubular chain, and pavé sapphires are channel-set within the camellia itself. Built to transform, the necklace can be taken apart and worn in different ways.
Elsewhere, the Symbole Ombre necklace centres on two oversized stars set with diamonds and spessartite garnets, highlighted by a turquoise cast shadow that gives them the same sense of levitation seen across the set. Warm orange garnets contrast against cool turquoise, while pairing precious stones with hardstone reflects Mademoiselle’s own habit of mixing the two. That interplay of transparency and opacity carries into the construction: the colourful front gives way to a gold cartouche chain at the back, a string of amulet motifs paved with diamonds, with the stars sitting at the junction linking the two.
The garnets were recut for this piece to harmonise with the garnet beads. The turquoise on the stars’ branches was harder to source: specimens of this scale with consistent colour and no white veining are increasingly rare. Finishing them required an unusual roof-shaped cut developed to fit the stars’ points. Every garnet and turquoise bead came from colour-matched lots, then was individually reworked, polished and strung by hand. This labour-intensive process explains why the one-off creation will never be replicated.
