Exactly 30 years ago, Lorenz Bäumer launched his company and set up shop on Place Vendôme. At the same time, he began a collection of photos dedicated to this iconic location in the world of haute joaillerie.

“When I was asked to photograph the work of the bronze patinas, I had a sudden conviction: the time was now or never to capture this gigantic body of work”, says David Bordes.

At that time, no jewelers were established in Place Vendôme – except Gabriel Lemonnier, official jeweler to Napoleon III.

During his reign from 1643 to 1715, Louis XIV assembled all the conditions necessary to make Paris the capital of high jewelry.

We see in this drawing from 1925, how the famous humorist Sem called the Duke of Windsor and the future Edward VIII. The Duke spent a lot of time in the Cartier boutique at rue de la Paix, where he bought jewelry for his fiancées, and especially for the Duchess of Windsor, for whom he would eventually abdicate the throne. He spent hours working over designs and matching gemstones with Jeanne Toussaint, who was at that time in charge of Cartier’s creations.