The boutique additionally options UK-based de Gournay wallpaper – hand-painted to depict Australian native flora.
Du Mesnil assured Life & Leisure that Cartier’s signature pink field and emblematic panther will proceed to be flagship staples, however says a cookie-cutter strategy to worldwide boutique design is over.
“It’s very a lot concerning the expertise and the recollections – we try to create a singular atmosphere that folks will in all probability always remember and affiliate with moments of massive celebration.”
Cartier’s Opal Bar. The curved marble counter is impressed by Australia’s turquoise waters; gold waves replicate Sydney Harbour.
By setting a brand new benchmark in Australian luxurious procuring, Cartier goals to capitalise on pandemic-weary shoppers’ thirst for immersive retail – the polar reverse of medical and handy on-line procuring.
With entrances on each George and King Streets, the jewel-shaped constructing flows throughout two ranges related by an elliptical marble staircase.
Downstairs clients can peruse watches, fragrances and jewelry – together with Cartier classics such because the love bracelet and the oblong Tank watch, which retails from $4200 to upwards of $50,000.
In a fittingly thick French accent, du Mesnil says the bottom flooring is an area the place clients can embark on a “sensual journey of fixed discovery” throughout female and masculine zones, delineated by a transition from mild colors to darker browns and corrugated timber.
Upstairs homes VIP viewing salons, exhibition area, a digital studio for consultations with regional purchasers, and the Opal Bar.
The bar is a bodily nod to the forex of celebration on which Cartier has all the time traded: “Love, friendship, milestone, congratulations – and this must be totally built-in within the expertise,” du Mesnil explains.
Impressed by the “turquoise waters of Australia”, the bar’s design is an attractive curve of Amazon marble and stained wooden beneath a playful gold and white mild fixture by the Anglo-Italian design staff Giapato & Coombes.
Cartier’s glittering Apatura necklace options Australian opals weighing 22.08 carats.
Right here clients can deliberate, rejoice or maybe digest the price of purchases over a glass of champagne or a signature ‘Opal Martini’, designed by Sydney cocktail outfit Perhaps Sammy.
The homage to Australia’s iconic gemstone, as soon as deemed “a bit of frequent” by Cartier’s artistic director, Jacqueline Karachi, cements the opal’s arrival within the jewelry equal of high fashion.
Opals have come a good distance from beneath the scorched earth surrounding NSW’s Lightning Ridge. The iridescent gem stones shine in Cartier’s 2022 ‘Beautés du Monde’ excessive jewelry assortment as centrepieces within the Cordulia brooch and the Apatura necklace, which will likely be on show on the retailer’s opening.
The earlier retailer on Castlereagh Road will home pop-up exhibitions specializing in Cartier’s historical past and particular person items earlier than its eventual shut when the lease expires subsequent 12 months.
An “over the moon” du Mesnil says the November 16 opening heralds “a brand new web page in our lovely Australian-Cartier e-book”, the place opals, panthers and champagne mingle in a very glamorous new setting.
