A decade of daring: Boucheron’s CEO Helene Poulit-Duquesne boldly rewrites the French jeweller’s playbook

Within the world of high jewellery, heritage and daring can appear at odds. For Helene Poulit-Duquesne, who celebrates her 10th year as Boucheron’s CEO this September, those two ideas are the twin engines of a very modern renaissance. Under her stewardship, the French maison has evolved from a heritage house with untold potential into the industry's most daring innovator – one that embeds ocean sounds into memory rings, transforms real flowers into eternal jewels and challenges every convention of high jewellery and luxury. From the renovation of the Boucheron’s iconic 26 Place Vendome flagship to pioneering sustainable packaging solutions, Poulit-Duquesne has balanced reverence for the maison's rich past with an unwavering commitment to contemporary relevance.

The CEO’s strategy has been bold and methodical, marked by the establishment of two distinct high jewellery collections annually, spearheading aggressive international expansion into China and the US, and fostering an unprecedented creative partnership with Claire Choisne, Boucheron’s creative director, that has redefined the boundaries of high jewellery design and savoir-faire.

Through it all, the CEO has kept the brief deceptively simple – innovation should serve emotion; craftsmanship must be elevated, never eclipsed, by technology; and the women or men who wear Boucheron should remain at the centre of every decision. In this email interview, Poulit-Duquesne reflects on a decade of transformation and looks ahead to the next wave of creation.

Congratulations on your 10th anniversary as Boucheron’s CEO. When you look back at the past decade, which achievements feel most defining, and why? 

Thank you. Two milestones stand out for me because they crystallise who we are and what we stand for. The first is the renovation of our flagship at 26 Place Vendome in 2018. This project was deeply personal to me; I visited the construction site every week for more than a year. We wanted to restore the spirit of Frederic Boucheron's original family home, creating a space where people feel truly welcomed and at home. The 26V apartment on the top floor is the best expression of that – offering our clients an experience money cannot buy. Alongside the restoration, we developed an in-house boutique concept and rolled it out worldwide, so each address carries Boucheron’s spirit while adapting to the character of its city.

The second is the Fleurs Eternelles (Eternal Flowers) rings, which we launched in 2018 as part of the Nature Triomphante high jewellery collection. As an avid nature lover, I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of capturing the fleeting beauty of flowers and making it everlasting. With this collection, we succeeded in transforming the most ephemeral and delicate elements in nature into something eternal. Through a new process that stabilised nine real blooms, we transformed fragile petals into high jewellery rings whose “hearts” are precious stones. This collection is particularly close to my heart because it perfectly embodies Boucheron’s ability to turn a dream into reality through poetry, innovation and craftsmanship.

Boucheron has often been described as undergoing a renaissance under your leadership. What most defines the “before and after”?

Early on, I thought of Boucheron as the “sleeping beauty” of Place Vendome. We had all the ingredients – heritage, savoir-faire and singular archives – but no unified platform to express who we are. My job was to define one clear positioning and tell one consistent story worldwide: Boucheron is the most stylish and cutting-edge French high jewellery maison since 1858.

From there, two decisive shifts followed. First, we rebuilt a coherent and attractive range of jewellery across price points and categories, so that each client can find a piece that fits their personal style and everyday life.

I also made a deliberate choice to diversify our selection of stones. At Boucheron, we don’t focus only on diamonds, but our collections like the Serpent Boheme offer a broad palette of stones, such as rhodolite, aquaprase, pink quartz or malachite. We also moved from one to two high jewellery collections annually to balance commercial goals with creative freedom. 

The second change was our international expansion. My first focus was Asia, where we started from scratch – opening our first boutique in China in 2018 and rebuilding our Japanese network with a “scrap-and-build” approach. The next phase was the US, with flagships in New York City and Las Vegas in 2024, followed by Los Angeles this year and soon, Miami. Each move was deliberate and methodical, designed to connect with new generations of clients. Digitisation has been a key enabler: over the past decade we relaunched our e-commerce platform, expanded our digital communications, and launched a US e-shop that allows us to accompany clients everywhere, grow our community and unlock new forms of engagement.

Two high jewellery collections – Histoire de Style and Carte Blanche – have now become Boucheron signatures during your tenure. How did this dual approach impact the maison's identity?

To remain faithful to Frederic Boucheron’s innovative spirit, we needed to honour heritage and creativity equally. Launched in January, the Histoire de Style collections draw inspiration from our archives. Then in July, the Carte Blanche collections give our creative director Claire total freedom to push a very traditional sector with innovative, emotional pieces. Framing the year around those two launches creates anticipation and emotion among our clients and it’s something they look forward to and remember. To support this strategy, we strengthened production capacity, and the acquisition of a high jewellery workshop in 2023 was decisive in securing the highest level of craftsmanship for the future.

Of all the high jewellery collections you've overseen, which one holds the strongest emotional resonance for you?

This year's Carte Blanche high jewellery collection, entitled Impermanence, is the one that has moved me most in my tenure here. For the first time at Boucheron, we are presenting not just high jewellery, but true art objects – six botanical compositions that encapsulate 28 pieces, many of them multi-wear and transformable.

Impermanence is Claire’s most personal tribute to date. It’s a meditation on beauty and transience that invites us to consider nature’s preciousness and our own responsibility to protect it. Claire was profoundly inspired by two Japanese influences: ikebana, the art of giving life to flowers, and wabi-sabi, the philosophy that finds grace in imperfection and honours the passage of time. These influences run throughout the collection, which visually unfolds from white to black to evoke light’s gradual dissolution – an allegory for impermanence itself. Even the pieces’ names, counting down from Composition n°6 to Composition n°1, emphasise this sense of disappearance.

As with every Carte Blanche collection, Impermanence advances innovation on every front: in form, with art objects that conceal multi-wear jewels; in technique, with ultra-high-resolution 3D printing and a couture diamond setting developed specifically for this collection; and in materials, spanning gold and precious stones to borosilicate glass, plant-based resin, titanium, ceramics and Vantablack – a revolutionary material that absorbs 99.965 per cent of visible light, making it among the darkest substances ever engineered. I’m extremely proud of this poetic, innovative and profoundly meaningful tribute to nature. 

Your great partnership with Claire Choisnehas produced some of the industry's most daring high jewellery. What fuels that chemistry? 

We are both obsessed with innovation and progress, and it’s this shared passion that drives our creative partnership. Innovation and progress have been in Boucheron's DNA since the very beginning in 1858, when Frederic Boucheron himself pushed boundaries by using innovative materials such as rock crystal. His creative genius led to timeless creations like the 1879 Question Mark necklace, which encircled the neck without a clasp. This gave women freedom at a time when jewels were so heavy and intricate that they often required assistance to put them on. Claire follows in our founder’s footsteps. She’s highly sensitive to innovation and regularly reimagines the traditional perception of value of materials, while always placing emotions at the heart of her collections. But we don’t innovate for novelty’s sake, nor do we aspire to be a technology-led maison.

From magnesium and aerogels to the 5D Memory ring that captures sound, Boucheron has embraced high-tech materials no other jeweller has dared. How do you decide when to take such risks and do you have a favourite?

Our approach to taking these risks is always grounded in creative purpose rather than pursuing innovation for novelty. We begin with a dream, an emotion we want to convey and let innovation become the instrument that brings that vision to life. Since 2020, Claire has introduced novel materials each year through our Innovative Capsules, using them to challenge conventional ideas of what is precious. These capsule collections enable us to work with collaborators from entirely disparate fields – organisations with no connection to high jewellery – allowing us to experiment with the latest techniques, so that the results are original and meaningful.

If I had to pick a favourite, the Quatre 5D Memory ring holds a special place in my heart. It began with a breakthrough called 5D memory, which encodes any kind of data for billions of years in silica glass. Beyond cutting-edge, it's also poetic. Just like jewellery, it offers a form of eternity, allowing us to encapsulate the most precious things for billions of years. 

Once we discovered the technology, we asked ourselves, “What do we want to keep forever?” Claire chose to immortalise a deeply personal childhood memory – the rhythmic sound of ocean waves from her youth in France's Landes region. To realise that vision, we collaborated with IRCAM, the French institute for acoustic and music research, and co-designed the sound with their engineers. Neither of us is a musician, so the process of “composing” together was as surprising as it was exhilarating.

I think of this capsule as a gift to future generations. I’m convinced that the sound of water will still be precious in five billion years. For me, the ring perfectly encapsulates our fundamental philosophy: innovation serving emotion and technology serving dreams.

Do you see technology as the future of high jewellery or will it always remain secondary to craftsmanship?

Technology will never replace craftsmanship at Boucheron; it will always enrich it. Innovation is not an end in itself, but a means to serve emotion and creativity. Our approach is to pair new techniques with ancestral savoir-faire to create pieces of high emotional value. The aim isn’t to replace traditional craftsmanship, but to enrich it with new creative possibilities. Our R&D team and artisans work hand-in-hand, so every innovation respects high jewellery standards. A great example is our Jack de Boucheron Ultime capsule. Here, we were intrigued by Cofalit, a material made from recycled industrial waste, and set out to give new meaning to something usually considered the opposite of luxurious. By cutting, polishing and setting it with the same precision as a precious stone, our teams conferred a new nobility on the material.

Is there tension between commercial viability and creative freedom? How do you strike the balance between risk-taking and business growth?

When you design the right framework, the tension disappears. Our two-collection model lets us speak to distinct clienteles. Histoire de Style attracts those who prize tradition, the mastery of savoir-faire and the enduring value of precious stones. On the other end, Carte Blanche speaks to collectors, who seek creativity, boldness and storytelling. These clients see high jewellery not just as an investment, but a form of personal expression and even wearable art. Some of these clients know Claire’s work intimately and look forward to each new Carte Blanche collection every year – building their own private collections of her pieces, much like contemporary art collectors. What also guarantees our commercial stability beyond these two collections are our classic high jewellery pieces, like the Question Mark necklace that we produce all year long.

Under your leadership, Boucheron has expanded significantly into Asia, the Middle East and more recently, the US. Was there one market that proved particularly meaningful or challenging?

Each region is unique, with its own culture and history that shape the market dynamics. The most significant lesson we can take from our entry into the Chinese market is the importance of humility. In China, we weren’t an expected presence initially and it required tenacity to explain who we are and to articulate our positioning. You must arrive with conviction and optimism, but you also have to listen, learn and adapt to local nuance. That experience has guided our approach to every new market.

Why was 2024 the right time to push into the United States?

I’ve pursued our global expansion in deliberate phases. The first centred on Asia, particularly China, which became our primary international growth engine. Since 2018, we’ve opened 16 boutiques there in just six years. In 2024, the second phase commenced in the US, a mature and highly competitive market that demands careful preparation and long-term investment. Several signals told us the timing was right: a steady flow of American clients to Place Vendome already attached to Claire’s creativity and French craftsmanship; rising visibility through American press and celebrities during awards season; and strong organic interest even with zero media investment.

The fit is clear. Our positioning resonates with American values through three core pillars. First, innovation has been in our DNA since the beginning – we are a maison of firsts. Second, self-expression is fundamental. While others focus on products, we create pieces around the individual. And third, optimism drives everything we do. We bring a positive, forward-looking spirit, with a desire to push boundaries and light the way.

Singapore and Southeast Asia are discerning markets with a growing community of young collectors. How will you heighten Boucheron’s presence here?

This region is dynamic and aligned with our values of creativity, savoir-faire and self-expression. In Singapore, we’re already investing in our Marina Bay Sands boutique. In Southeast Asia, we’re building presence and brand awareness in priority locations. For instance, the concept for our new boutique at Bangkok’s Siam Paragon, which opened in June 2025, is a Jardin d’Hiver (winter garden) with Thai inspiration. The space echoes Boucheron’s DNA, while featuring local craft and aesthetics. We’ll continue bringing high jewellery experiences to the region to present creations locally and nurture relationships with clients and press – immersive events that spotlight heritage, style, innovation and our French art de vivre or art of living.

The No Pack is the New Pack eco-design approach challenges traditional luxury presentation. How did you make the business case for sustainability?

In 2021, when I briefed the teams with a simple direction, "No pack is the new pack," I knew we were challenging a long-standing luxury code. Our former case was unsustainable, it was too large, too heavy, made in 12 formats using 11 materials and non-recyclable.

With experts and specialised engineers, we eco-designed a new object across its life cycle, from raw material selection to circularity after use. We reduced formats from 12 to seven, cut components from 11 to two recyclable materials – aluminium and wool felt with no plastics – divided the weight by four to reduce transport emissions and costs, and replaced the clamshell mechanism with a new lid opening that is simpler to service and more durable. Just as importantly, each case becomes a beautiful object clients can reuse at home. For me, sustainability in luxury is not a trade-off; it’s a licence to operate. Internally, there was less resistance than a mental boundary. Initially, the team proposed iterations of the old packaging, so I asked them to start from zero. They came back with the breakthrough we have today.

Boucheron acquired a high jewellery workshop and deepened traceability. Is vertical integration the future model for luxury houses?
Vertical integration is valuable when it creates client value and protects our standards. Our workshop acquisition and traceability work align with long-term priorities: excellence of savoir-faire, responsible sourcing and the capacity to meet growing demand while staying agile. But the future is not a closed fortress.

For Boucheron, the right model is hybrid: integrate where it safeguards craftsmanship, ethics and capacity, and remain open to partners when it pushes the frontier. For example, we work with Sarine on the Diamond Journey, which underpins our fully digital Boucheron diamond certificate with verifiable mine-to-jewel data, and we collaborate with technology providers, who help Claire realise complex ideas. As I see it, the future is a curated ecosystem led by a clear vision – every partnership serving one purpose: to light the way with creations that are cutting-edge, impeccably crafted and responsibly made. 

Over the last decade, how has the luxury landscape changed from your vantage point?

Luxury has shifted from a product-centric model to one centred on experiences and emotions. Clients want to belong to a universe, to connect with a story and a community, not just to own an object. Younger clients, especially in Asia, are more sensitive to creativity and storytelling than intrinsic value, and they seek the freedom to wear jewellery beyond traditional codes. Sustainability is now a licence to operate and no longer a marketing trend. All of this has reinforced our convictions to put the individual before the product, push creativity and innovation and make responsibility a daily commitment.

What excites you most about the next chapter?

What excites me most is continuing to light the way. We’ve built strong foundations, and the next chapter is about amplifying that momentum. I’m particularly thrilled about the opening of our Xintiandi flagship in Shanghai this fall. It’ll be our third global flagship – after Place Vendome in Paris and Ginza in Tokyo – and our first in China, anchoring Boucheron in the heart of Shanghai and underscoring our long-term commitment to this extraordinary market. We’ve approached Xintiandi like we did Place Vendome – by inhabiting a historic residence alive with local memory and symbolism. My hope is that it’ll become a vibrant bridge between French and Chinese cultures, creating unforgettable experiences for our Chinese clients and establishing a lasting home for Boucheron in Shanghai for many years to come.

Lastly, when you eventually step down, what do you hope will be said about Boucheron’s transformation during your tenure? 

I hope people will say that I honoured Frederic Boucheron’s vision, while moving the maison forward. In a house nearing 170 years, my time here is brief, and my task is to be faithful to the founder’s spirit – his audacity, empathy and innovation – and to translate it for our era. That we lit the way by keeping innovation at the heart, placing the individual before the product, and cultivating a family spirit in which talent felt safe to express itself. If I could wish for one legacy, it would be this: that I helped people flourish even as Boucheron progressed.