Balancing Act: How Cartier's latest high jewellery collection founds its 'lagom' in Stockholm

In a city cradled by sea and forest, where light lingers into the late hours and calm is a cultural currency, balance is more than a way of life, it is a worldview. Here in Stockholm, the Swedish concept of lagom (not too much, not too little, but just right) permeates everything from design to daily rituals. It is in this setting, where restraint meets richness, that Cartier chose to debut its latest High Jewellery collection, En Équilibre.

The name, translating as ‘In Balance’, echoes both the spirit of the collection and the soul of the city. It’s a fitting pairing. En Équilibre explores the beauty that emerges when opposites meet – where solid encounters dissipate, where symmetry f lirts with asymmetry, and technical mastery meets art form.

Having visited Cartier’s storied atelier in Paris earlier this year, I saw first hand the secrecy and sensitivity with which these pieces come to life. At the time, only one creation for En Équilibre had been completed: the ‘Panthere Dentelée’ necklace, a mesmerising emerald, white gold and onyx necklace that I now recognise shimmering in the Stockholm sunlight. Back then, in the hands of a single craftsman at the bench, the piece was already a marvel of balance and tension. But here, surrounded by sea and Scandinavian serenity, it reveals its full poetry.

“Our craftsmen need challenges,” says Alexa Abitbol, Director of High Jewellery Manufacturing, sitting in a custom-built exhibition space by the Stockholm waterfront especially for the En Équilibre showcase. “They spend decades at their bench. 40 years, eight hours a day. To keep them engaged, we must offer pieces that are not just beautiful, but technically ambitious.”

One such feat? The Panthere Dentelée neck-lace, composed of no less than 806 emerald beads (nearly 275 carats in total) painstakingly strung by the Maison’s only dedicated stringing specialist. “She had to create the illusion of perfect symmetry, despite each bead being naturally different in size and colour,” Abitbol explains. “Sometimes a single bead would be removed or added to maintain the balance. It’s this fine calibration that defines En Équilibre.”

The theme of balance manifests not only in the structure of the pieces, but in their spirit. A standout panther, Cartier’s enduring emblem, is rendered for the first time in a lace-like lattice of 300 tiny gold squares. “It took 1,800 hours to complete,” Abitbol says. “The sculptor created the volume, then the jeweller opened every tiny hole by hand. It’s like a puzzle, like lace. You look at it and it feels light, almost impossible.”

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Then there is the breathtaking peacock-inspired Pavocelle necklace: over 5,700 hours of labour and two years in the making. “The volume, the modularity, the openwork… everything had to remain in equilibrium,” Abitbol continues. “There’s a hidden watch buckle mechanism that allows the centre to be detached and worn as a brooch, while still maintaining harmony when it’s removed. Technically and emotionally, it was one of our most demanding creations. The jeweller who worked on it told me it was psychologically intense. Two years working on just one piece – that becomes personal.”

This is high jewellery not just as adornment, but as art form. There are 113 one-of-a-kind pieces in the first chapter of En Équilibre, with another 100 to debut in Asia and the US in subsequent chapters. Many draw on Cartier’s heritage: echoes of Art Deco geometry, nods to Islamic art, and revivals of the house’s beloved Tutti Frutti pieces. But everything has been reimagined with a sense of lightness and movement. Pieces meant to be worn, not just worshipped. “Clients today are looking to wear High Jewellery in less conventional ways,” Abitbol notes. “They want pieces that feel like a second skin – fluid, supple, modern. It’s not just for galas anymore.”

Stockholm, then, is an inspired choice: a city known for its sleek restraint and reverence for craft. “There is a real harmony that we find everywhere,” says Abitbol. “That’s why we were very happy to come here to emphasise this theme.” Though the city was not necessarily a consideration in the original design concept, she notes that “the colours chosen, and all around the balance that we were seeking here is reflected in Stockholm – in architecture and the environment, but also in the way people are living.”

The sentiment is echoed by Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s Director of Image, Style and Heritage. “There has always been a deep cultural connection between France and Sweden, a centuries-long exchange of artists and ideas,” he says. “In Paris, when we think about a place that embodies a thoughtful, balanced approach to design and life, we think of Scandinavia, and Stockholm in particular.”

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Rainero also sees deep synergies between Swedish design and Cartier’s aesthetic. “When you look at the history of Scandinavian modern design – even just furniture – there’s always been a harmony between function and beauty. That pursuit of balance, of line and form, mirrors what we do in High Jewellery: where craftsmanship exists entirely in service of aesthetic expression.”

The synergies are everywhere. The green of the emeralds, the blues of the sapphires, the interplay of tourmalines and coral, they mirror the colours of the city itself. “These hues feel very natural to us,” I say to Abitbol, “like water and forests.” She agrees. “We didn’t plan it this way, but there is harmony. It just works here.”

Among the most striking pieces is a necklace named ‘Tsagaan’, Abitbol’s personal favourite. “It looks deceptively simple, vertical onyx lines, very clean,” she says. “But it took 1,400 hours. It’s flexible both horizontally and vertically. There’s an interplay between solid and void, and if you look closely, there’s a hidden snow panther’s head embedded in the design. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.”

In conversation, Abitbol radiates deep respect for her team. She knows all 400 of her artisans by name. “I think that’s important,” she says. “It’s all human. What I bring to the atelier is that proximity. I want to lead them with vision but also with presence.” Still comparatively young in a field long dominated by older men, Abitbol is something of a rarity at the helm of a major high jewellery workshop. Yet she sees her position less as a revolution and more as a continuation. “Cartier was a dream I never imagined. I came from a more industrial background, but here, the emotion is tangible,” she says. “These artisans, they remember every piece they ever worked on. Every challenge, every pleasure, every emotion.”

Indeed, the emotion is tangible in Stockholm. Displayed like still lives, photographed with the kind of reverence usually reserved for fine art, each Cartier piece seemed to vibrate with quiet beauty. In the end, En Équilibre is not just a feat of technical brilliance. It is a meditation on poise and balance – how to create tension and resolve it. And there could be no better place to reflect on that than here, in the land of lagom.