The Chanel camellia

Diamond and emerald camellia necklace © Chanel Jewellery

When the Chanel house launched its jewellery line in 1993, the heavyweight fashion house drew on Coco Chanel's sources of inspiration. The most oft-used yet offbeat of these was undoubtedly the camellia. Coco loved the sobriety, almost geometric roundness and eveness of the camellia's petals. It was also the first flower given to her by her English lover Arthur 'Boy' Capel, who inspired her creations a great deal and financed her first boutique in Paris. 

Over the years, the Chanel camellia appeared in gold set with diamonds, sculpted in opal or gold openwork, with ornamental patterns pierced or cut into it. Chanel even created a cut stone in the form of a camellia, from tourmaline, aquamarine and citrine quartz in pink, blue and yellow.     

www.chanel.com