Centurion IDC Autumn 2020

Style & Beauty Precious

Style & Beauty Precious Things It is a book that, over the past century, readers of all ages have come to treasure, a paean to the delirious splendour of the flora and fauna in our world – and the curative, replenishing powers that they hold. It has been adapted several times for the stage and cinema, and this year’s film, with a cast including Colin Firth and Julie Walters, may be the most beautiful yet – so beautiful, in fact, that jewellery maker Boodles began a collaboration with the filmmakers in 2018 for the collection of the same name. “The Secret Garden and Boodles are both quintessentially British,” says James Amos of the London-based brand, each “blessed with a long and interesting history, traditional yet modern, and with a focus on flowers and gardens – both of which have been longstanding sources of inspiration for Boodles jewellery”. Amos says the connection was also appealing for the sixth-generation, family-owned company because it offered an opportunity to try something entirely new. “It is the first time Above, clockwise from top left: yellowgold Laburnum cuff and drop earrings set with white and yellow diamonds; rose-gold Column & Ivy necklaces set with pink opal, tourmaline and diamonds; yellow-gold Walled Garden ring featuring tsavorites, diamonds and enamel detail Boodles will have officially partnered with a film, after several years of discussing this type of idea,” says Amos. “On a personal level, it has been fascinating to see quite how much work goes into a film production and to get a chance to look behind the scenes.” Shot across England and Wales, the film features some of the most evocative landscapes in Britain – from the ancient ruins of Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire to the bucolic streams of Snowdonia and the lush, subtropical flora of Cornwall – all pieced together to recreate the most magical of secret gardens. And though the Secret Garden collection draws on these particular landscapes, Boodles’ head of design, Rebecca Hawkins, was keen to capture more than just the dreamy scenery: “There were the themes explored by the novel, and by extension the film, to draw upon and develop – themes such as new beginnings, discovery, self-awareness and the healing power of gardens and nature.” She also notes that amid the natural wonder “there was a wealth of visual imagery, from architectural PHOTOS © BOODLES 28 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM

to period influences”, which she was also able to integrate into her designs. The 40 creations comprising the collection revisit the key elements of the novel as well as the most defining scenes from the film through a variety of thematic suites. For instance, the Walled Garden pieces, featuring diamond-set lattices interspersed with flowers and coloured gemstones, evoke the brick wall behind which Mary, the protagonist, discovers her late aunt’s secret garden, which, overgrown through years of neglect, piques Mary’s imagination. The Column & Ivy suite, by contrast, revisits the joyful scene of Mary and her friend Dickon light-heartedly playing among ancient stone columns, represented in delicate rose-gold necklaces and earrings set with pink opals, tourmalines and diamonds. One of Hawkins’s favourite scenes from the movie – the children running through a magnificent laburnum arch – is captured by the cascading earrings and pendant necklaces from the Laburnum suite. “I have visited a number of the gardens where filming took Above, from left: diamond-set Keyway pendants with yellowgold details; rose-gold Column & Ivy drop earrings set with pink opal, tourmaline and diamonds; yellow-gold Mary’s Bracelet with a diamond-encircled keyhole motif set in rose gold place, but I made a particular point of being at Bodnant Garden at the right time to see the laburnum arch in full bloom, which gave an extra dynamic to the designs.” The warmth of this uplifting cinematic moment is rendered by these pieces through the combination of yellow gold and natural yellow diamonds. “When I saw the finished suite for the first time, I really did think it felt like sunshine,” says the designer. Naturally, the most iconic of the book’s motifs – the lock – plays a crucial role in the collection. A symbol of the entrance to the secret garden, it is the central motif of Keyway, a series of romantic pendants in platinum, yellow or rose gold, set with diamonds and decorated with flowers, leaves and robins. And the lock is also featured, in an understated way, in the Secret Garden Charity Bracelets, available in white, yellow and rose gold, with proceeds donated to a children’s charity – a gesture that ensures The Secret Garden will continue to remain deeply meaningful and life-altering well beyond 2020. boodles.com • CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 29