Showcased on Beijing’s former imperial grounds, Cartier’s second chapter of its En Équilibre high jewellery collection treads a fine balance between heritage and contemporary relevance
It is hard to resist a moment of reflection when you are standing in the mist drifting across Beijing’s Kunming Lake, like a silk scarf pulled loose, or watching the sun warm the tiled eaves of Aman Summer Palace until they glow the colour of old lacquer. Places this perfectly composed make it tempting to summon ancient wisdom.
One could, in fact, get a little indulgent and quote Confucius — “The superior man seeks harmony, not conformity” — or whichever polished line from The Analects that reliably finds its way into a travel magazine. Although his ideas about equilibrium are often invoked whenever a Chinese landscape needs a philosophical footnote, the principle itself, for all its gravitas, is surprisingly practical: a well-lived life — and by extension, a well-thought-out environment — should balance human interaction with the natural realm, lest it offend the universe.
The steel and glass installation allows streams of sunlight, creating a setting that is neither indoors nor outdoors
The Summer Palace, once the imperial retreat of the proto-feminist Empress Dowager Cixi, who shepherded a medieval empire into the modern age, was built with exactly this in mind. Stately courtyards and edifices no taller than the surrounding trees politely negotiated their presence among hills, lakes and pines, with just enough hierarchy to remind you that royalty lived nearby. Long before “wellness architecture” became a buzzword, the Qing dynasty was already dreaming up lush retreats designed to keep the psyche from overheating. Call this Unesco World Heritage Site the most elegant and clever mood board.
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Thus, when Cartier arrived at this Aman outpost — where the palace’s former residential quarters have been converted into 51 guest rooms and nine courtyards, many dating back to the original 1750 construction — with the En Équilibre collection centred on equilibrium, the venue had already done half the explaining. A wall text or curatorial flourish was hardly necessary when the storied grounds so clearly embodied the theme.
And, of course, there is a certain historical symmetry at play: the empress’ beloved haven has long stood for elite taste, and the French maison is hardly unfamiliar with that territory.
Yet, the home of the Forbidden City is not the first destination where Cartier chose to meditate on these ideas. Earlier this year, while luxury stalwarts were busy flocking to Italy or France in their usual seasonal migration for shows and soirées, the brand slipped in the opposite direction. Eschewing the predictable carousel of photogenic capitals, it decamped to cool, crystalline Stockholm, transforming the city — or more precisely, the revitalised 1899 industrial complex Nacka Strandsmässan — into the unexpected backdrop for the debut of En Équilibre. The occasion shimmered all the more brightly thanks to a guest list with serious star wattage during the gala dinner at the Artipelag art gallery: Zoë Saldaña, Alexander Skarsgård, Anna Sawai and Deepika Padukone were among those in attendance.
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Sweden also provided an opportunity to reconcile with Cartier’s deep roots in the region. In 1904, the house crafted a tiara for the royal family, and more than a century later, established its first Scandinavian presence in this “Venice of the North”, followed soon after by Copenhagen, Denmark. Hosting an event of this scale in the country, as senior vice president and chief marketing officer Arnaud Carrez noted, served as “an amplifier for the market”, a rare chance to connect directly with local clients.
China, conversely, was less of a bold detour than a strategic inevitability. Parent company Richemont reported a 17% rise in jewellery sales during the latest quarter, far surpassing the 10% consensus and emphasising the strength of the region that has long served as one of Cartier’s most dynamic engines of growth. The booming nation is also a wellspring of inspiration: one need only look to the Bailong brooch from the 2023 Le Voyage Recommencé showcase, where a dragon clutching a yellow diamond rises above a 30.11-carat octagonal green tourmaline — an homage to the centuries-old tradition of sculpting mythical creatures with near-lifelike precision. The company’s instinctive return to Beijing for the second chapter of En Équilibre — featuring more than 480 creations including seven new high jewellery pieces, horological hallmarks and vintage collectibles — was just continuing a conversation fuelled by appetite and influence.
Harmony of Colours explores the collection’s vivid hues
How does this sense of equipoise — or what the Chinese call qià dào hào chù, a calibration of elements that feels just right and offers exactly what the situation requires — reveal itself at Aman?
As the last of the season’s yellow foliage hung overhead, sunlight filtered through the steel and glass installation, casting dappled patterns across frosted panels in blue, gold and lacquer red. The cream-carpeted set-up deferred to the garden around it. Transparency allowed greenery to remain part of the experience, their silhouettes softening the crisp, cubic walls. The outcome was a layout that felt porous — neither indoors nor fully outdoors, but something suspended between the two.
The presentation unfolded as three intertwined expressions of Cartier’s design aesthetic. Harmony of Colours mapped a chromatic arc from subtle tonal shifts to vivid contrasts, echoing the atelier’s mastery of composing gemstones, as if orchestrating a palette where every hue lands in precisely the right register. Geometric Rhythm drew on clarity, the contours of animals and the vitality of flora, revealing how refinement and restraint give rise to gems whose sophistication lies in the measured cadence of line and form.
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And in Architecture of Light, volume shaped those that flirt with luminosity, flitting between solid and void, shadow and gleam.
The brand left no stone unturned, quite literally, in uncovering how far its high jewellery vocabulary can stretch. A single gem can sometimes set the agenda, and the Scalera took its cue directly from its centrepiece: a 6.12-carat Zambian emerald whose strong, natural structure spurred artisans to build upward. A tiered, stepped setting rises around it, conjuring the illusion of height and clean silhouette. Light is the true collaborator here: the emerald’s vivacity diffuses through rock crystal — a material the maison has favoured since the early 20th century — giving the final product a gentle, translucent radiance. Slim bands of crystal sit between each structural element, creating enough space for the diamond lines to hover rather than coalesce into rigid rows. The effect is open and startlingly modern, even with its obvious nod to the graphic codes of the 1930s.
That same epoch also signalled how Art Deco had reached its full stride. During this meeting of contemporary currents and cross-continental exchange, jewellers gravitated towards saturated hues and angular profiles to mirror the era’s fascination with order. Fashion reinforced the trend further: drop-waist dresses demanded elaborate or swinging sautoirs that shimmied with the body, while cropped hair courted dramatic lavaliers that accented the jaw and traced the neck. The period’s imprint is unmistakable in En Équilibre’s Vetrata, anchored by an 8.15-carat diamond cut in an elongated rectangle that dictated the framework that followed.
A sweep of 20 stones in corresponding shapes is punctuated by onyx intervals, amplifying the distinction.
The Cafayate is enriched by striking tones
Diamonds may have occupied the cultural high ground, upheld as the definitive symbol of commitment, but as taste evolves and collectors become more attuned to geology and rarity, exuberant stones have begun to unsettle that long-standing hierarchy. After all, a diamond’s identity is easily distilled into a grading report, whereas anything with colour hints at the landscapes and deposits it comes from, creating a connection a certificate cannot replicate. This approach animates the Cafayate, which revolves around two opals whose flashes of red, amber and green determine the overall visual. Each is encircled by three sapphires selected to reinforce its most vivid iridescence. The palette continues across a supple mesh of yellow and rose gold, where Umba sapphires maintain the warmth in a sun-lit progression.
For all the exquisite marvels that periodically sweep through the galleries, animal motifs refuse to leave the stage.
Two mirrored felines anchor the Panthères Reflexio
They return in many guises — prowling, prancing, lying in wait — and have a way of settling along the body in forms that wrap, perch or glide across the skin. Although Cartier has built a coherent language around this appeal, allowing collectors to assemble their own menageries, its iconic avatar remains the majestic panther. In 2025, the Panthères Reflexio gives that legacy a fresh configuration — a 74.1-carat tourmaline in deep green meets a 14.91-carat coral drop, reviving the maison’s long-standing taste for red and green pairings. The collar is lined with soft, baroque-shaped tourmaline beads arranged in a measured descent. At the centre, two felines face one another, poised yet alert — their black-spotted coats and onyx-tipped paws accentuated by piercing emerald eyes; a moment of held energy that enlivens the entire necklace.
The undulating structure of the Haliade necklace evokes fluidity
From the charged duet between the maison’s avatar comes a trio of bejewelled statements that complete this chapter’s new releases. At the heart of the Haliade lies a 41.85-carat sapphire from Madagascar, its tone steeped in almost marine intensity. As if stirred by a slow current, the necklace seemingly rises and falls, a suppleness made possible only because each hidden linkage has been adjusted so the arcs can sway naturally. Juxtaposing this substantial yet decidedly buoyant interpretation is the Byzas, an openwork arrangement that combines 11.7-carat pear-shaped Ceylon sapphires with eight Zambian emeralds totalling 9.31 carats. Along the edges, square and tapered diamonds sharpen the outline, reasserting the piece’s tension like a repeated punctuation mark. Bridging these two temperaments is Nemorosa, which reaches into what feels like the earth’s private garden. Two Colombian emeralds guide its composition: one, a pear-shaped drop reimagined as a pendant; the other, an emerald-cut square that blooms into a stylised rosette of diamonds, onyx and rock crystal. The latter appears to float — a feat achieved through an invisible mechanism that strips away any hold, letting the stone feel completely unburdened.
If En Équilibre has illuminated anything, it is that heritage is not merely preserved by its lapidaries and jewellers, but continually rewritten by their hands. Ultimately, artisans are the final arbiters of what we later celebrate as masterpieces.
“Creating a distinctive line through understatement is the paradox of sophisticated simplicity. It’s looking at things differently, but also the art of balancing them with precision. Balance is at the heart of our creative approach, and that reveals Cartier’s harmony,” says director of high jewellery creation Jacqueline Karachi.
Much has changed in how jewels are perceived, yet they endure as one of the most anomalous crafts: an art born from the planet’s deepest pressures, yet historically deployed to signify status and inscribe identity. To parade such a showstopper today is not merely to adorn oneself but to participate in a ritual of continuity. Some things, like the histories that linger around China’s centuries-old seat of power, show how the past and present, facet and fire, can be held in the same palm without tipping the scale and dimming either.
Bling ring
Stars align for an evening of artistry and adornment
Zhang Yimou’s favourite muse and award-winning actress Gong Li speaks the three Cs — Cannes, culture and couture — fluently. During the gala unveiling of En Équilibre at the ZGC International Innovation Centre, she added a fourth C: carats. As she glided onto the red carpet, it was hard to tell whether the jewels caught the sparkle or simply borrowed hers.
The evening’s collective gaze also landed on Cartier’s constellation of ambassadors: Chang Chen, Song Jia, Li Xian, Bai Jingting and Zhang Jingyi, each lending their own magnetism to the scene. Special guest and world diving champion Guo Jingjing added a splash of glamour to the already luminous affair.
Bushels of jewellery appeared on the runway, fronted by supermodels Wang Wenqin, Pei Bei, Zhao Lei and Jin Dachuan, who flaunted how diamonds tilt with a turn or catch a glint with the subtlest shift. The fête drew to a close with a lilting performance by Na Ying, her unmistakable voice giving the night its celebratory final note.
Gong Li
Na Ying
