Frédéric Boucheron

Frédéric Prudent Boucheron , born December 17, 1830 in Paris where he died on August 20, 1902, was a French jeweler .

Son of Louis Boucheron (1786-1862) and Aurore Voizot (1797-1839), he married Gabrielle Bonin. He founded the Boucheron house and opened his first store in 1858 , at 150, Galerie de Valois at the Palais-Royal. He is known for the originality and elegance of his designs. (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Boucheron)

The House of Boucheron is a French family dynasty founded by Frederic Boucheron in 1858, with the opening of his first store in the Galerie de Valois, at Palais-Royal, during the heyday of the Second French Empire. He created his atelier in 1866 and a year later won the Gold Medal during the Exposition Universelle (1867).

Paul Legrand (1840-1910) worked as the chief designer for the house of Boucheron from 1863-1867, and again 1871-1892.[1] He is credited with the idea of combining pearls with diamond rondelles, first seen in Boucheron products in 1889. The "rondelle" cut of diamonds was pioneered by Bordinckx, who was also associated with Boucheron.[2] While Legrand was head designer, in 1879, Boucheron developed a clasp-less necklace, which was part of its show which won a Grand Prix for Outstanding Innovation in a Jewellery Collection at the 1889 World's Fair.[3] Legrand was also influential in the design of the "Plume de Paon" (Peacock's Feather) design, which has featured in Boucheron collections since Legrand and Frédéric Boucheron created it in 1866.[3] It featured in the Point d'Interrogation necklace, which was bought by Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Romanov.[3] This necklace was also featured in the World's Fair-winning collection.[3]

In 1893, Frédéric Boucheron became the first jeweler to move to Place Vendôme. Legend has it that he chose 26 Place Vendôme, where Boucheron remains to this day, because it was the sunniest corner of the square.[citation needed] He believed that the diamonds in the windows would sparkle all the more brilliantly.

In 1893, Boucheron opened a store in Moscow, later transferred to St Petersburg in 1911; in 1903 a store in London and an office in New York. More store openings followed in Japan in 1973, Shanghai, Dubai in 2005, and finally Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur in 2006.

Source, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boucheron. Biographical information from https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Boucheron both accessed 9/11/2023 SM.