‘I was born in a pot of gems,’ jokes Albert Boghossian, CEO of the eponymous Swiss jewellery house. It is just as well, then, that as a young man Boghossian knew that he would follow in the footsteps of four generations of forebears down the gilded road of jewellery making.
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The Boghossian maison traces its roots to 1868, when Albert’s great-great-grandfather Ovaness Boghossian lived at a crossroads of what was once the Silk Road. The blend of East and West seemed to seep into the fabric of the family, who fled persecution to settle in Syria, and later Lebanon, before Albert and his older brother Jean relocated to Geneva.
It is from this European epicentre of haute joaillerie and horlogerie that the younger Boghossian brother now oversees the record-breaking brand coveted by an international set of royals, collectors and celebrities. By his side are members of the dynasty’s sixth generation: his daughter Dalia and nephews Roberto and Ralph.
Royal inspiration
The latest twinkling Boghossian collection, Palace Voyages, which launches this month, pays homage to the family’s 150-year journey from East to West through one-of-a-kind pieces inspired by 14 royal palaces that trace a path from Qianlong Palace in Beijing’s Forbidden City to Brighton Pavilion.
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‘Palaces distil the essence of beauty, of fantasy,’ explains Boghossian. ‘Palaces represent a desire to create the best.’ Meanwhile, ‘A “voyage” reflects our story as the Boghossian family. As a people, Armenians are known for being both artisans, excelling in craftsmanship, and for being traders and voyagers; we have always been on the road, seeking treasures, trading in them, exchanging them. That’s also part of our own personal story, our family story.’
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The 70-piece collection comprises necklaces, cuffs, earrings and rings that each embody an architectural feature, decorative technique or colour palette drawn from one of the palaces chosen by Boghossian and his Singaporean creative director, Edmond Chin.
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‘In every palace, there is something you can pick up on,’ says Boghossian. The ornate muqarnas of the Bahia Palace in Marrakesh, the enchanting mirror and glasswork of Tehran’s Golestan Palace and the grand gates of Jaipur’s City Palace are all reflected in the diamonds, tourmalines, turquoise, sapphires, rubies and emeralds that have been meticulously assembled using the pioneering techniques for which Boghossian is known.
‘Although we’re inspired by ancient times, there is an injection of modernity into our designs and how they’re manufactured,’ explains Albert, who also notes the fusion of Eastern techniques with Western savoir-faire. ‘We’re unconventional in the way we assemble and set diamonds and coloured stones.’
Boundary-pushing technique
The patented ‘Merveilles’ technique, for example, which took four years to develop, features stones set without visible metal bondings, creating the illusion of floating gems. In the ‘kissing’ technique – a client favourite – the stones are placed one above the other so that they appear to ‘embrace’.
‘If you look at traditional high-end jewellery, there is a heavy way of making the gold box on which they set the diamond,’ Albert says. ‘They have really nice pieces, all those brands, but if you touch a piece from those brands and touch a piece from ours, ours is much more fluid, much more flexible. We want the stones to interact, we want the stones to have that dialogue, and our pieces have flexibility that’s really mind-boggling.’
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The level of craftsmanship has led to Boghossian pieces being sought out by clients from Asia, Europe, the US and the Middle East. Rihanna is also a fan. The star sparkled in the diamond and aquamarine ‘Mardin’ choker at the 2019 British Fashion Awards at the Royal Albert Hall. Then there are the record-breaking auction results. The Boghossian ‘Manuscript’ bracelet, which featured diamonds set on a pearl base, broke the price-per-carat record for a coloured diamond bracelet when it sold for nearly $4.5 million in 2018.
A personal journey
Yet accolades have never been a driving force for Albert Boghossian, now 65, who was born in Aleppo, Syria, but raised in Lebanon after his family relocated in search of greater stability. The Lebanese civil war later propelled Albert and his brother Jean (now an acclaimed sculptor and designer) north towards Europe.
Gems were a constant.
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‘We’ve always seen them, from our early childhood,’ Albert explains. ‘From the age of 10, 12, 13, I would go to my father’s shop and I would spend time there.’ His career began aged 18 when he ‘went to market’ and started a ‘voyage to the Far East, to India, to Thailand, to Hong Kong, to Sri Lanka’, where, with his brother, he began sourcing gemstones.
‘There was definitely an expectation from my father and grandfather that I would join them, but they didn’t have to put any pressure on me or convince me. I didn’t know I would be where I am today, but it was part of what I always felt I would be doing. For me, it was natural that I would join the fray.’ When the sixth generation of Boghossians joined the business in the 2000s, the family began to pay more attention to legacy. Albert explains: ‘We said to ourselves, “How can we make a difference? How can we bring something else to the jewellery world?” So we decided we would launch a brand that had a totally different philosophy to traditional jewellers.
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‘We needed to reach other realms, other waters – like the Boghossian family, we needed to be voyagers and bring our know- how to somewhere else.’
This journey continues with the release of Palace Voyages, which was conceived during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and, at the time of our interview, is not yet finished despite being just weeks from a formal unveiling at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park. Three pieces are still not complete. ‘We were unhappy with the results,’ says Albert, unfazed. ‘The whole idea is to be as close as possible to whatever motif we have picked from an individual palace. So sometimes you have to redo the piece three times to achieve that.’
There is a sense, though, that Albert Boghossian relishes a challenge. ‘The biggest difficulty is always having to be innovative, of always finding something new,’ he admits. ‘However, it’s part of our history. Armenians have had to emigrate, my grandfather fled the Ottoman Empire, then we had the civil war in Lebanon… So it’s part of our history. We’re used to being on the move. We’re used to dealing with whatever adversity brings us and to do the best we can.’
This feature first appeared in Spear’s Magazine Issue 92. Click here to subscribe.
