A jeweler's top tier of work: unique or very limited pieces built around exceptional stones.
High jewelry, haute joaillerie in French, is the part of a house’s work given to its rarest stones. The jewelry historian Vivienne Becker, quoted by Sotheby’s, calls it the haute couture of the jewelry world: as a fashion house offers ready-to-wear beside couture, a jewelry house may sell fine jewelry collections of recognized designs beside high jewelry pieces that are one of a kind or made to order. Chopard describes its high jewelry as one-of-a-kind creations made by a chain of artisans, among them lost-wax carvers and casters, lapidaries, gemsetters and polishers.
The line against fine jewelry is not a price. High jewelry is often more expensive, but Sotheby’s points instead to the size and rarity of the stones and the care of the making. In Paris, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture organizes a Haute Joaillerie calendar during Haute Couture Week, when the associated houses present their collections.
In job listings
The term names both workshops and client roles. At the bench, high jewelry jewelers, stone setters and polishers make the pieces; France’s Onisep notes that joailliers work in high jewelry houses as well as independent workshops. In boutiques, advisors present the collections to clients, often alongside watches. See current high jewelry roles.
