There is a long tradition of jewellers turning to textiles for inspiration, whether echoing the weave of tweed, the fluidity of silk or the intricacy of lace in precious materials. It is virtually impossible to mimic the flow of a ribbon with hard, unbending materials, which is why most jewellers settle for getting the look without attempting to reproduce the flexibility. 

Not so Van Der Bauwede, the Genevan jewellery house with a finely tuned instinct for audacity. The Lace & Diamond Collection, created in collaboration with French fashion designer Victor Weinsanto, showcases a patented process developed by Maxence Van Der Bauwede that translates the ancestral craft of lace weaving directly into high jewellery.

The collaboration came about when Maxence attended Victor’s Spring/Summer 2025 show in September 2024 at the Centre Pompidou. Captivated by the designs coming down the catwalk, he reached out to the up-and-coming Parisian designer. A former Jean Paul Gaultier protégé, Victor’s couture-meets-fantasy aesthetic resonated immediately with Maxence’s own appetite for creative risk. In their early discussions, it became clear that both saw jewellery not as static ornament but as something capable of movement, emotion and theatrical expression, and the idea of creating a jewellery collection that could live within the language of haute couture emerged. 

“I was genuinely moved by the perfect balance of the creations, which subtly blended haute couture craftsmanship with a sensual and avant-garde touch,” Maxence says. “The bride, all in veils, embroidery and transparency, was a revelation for me.” He had already been exploring lace from a jewellery perspective when he wrote to Victor to share his sketches—and received drawings in return inspired by Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry, the great seductresses of the 17th and 18th centuries. It turned out that embroidery and lace were central to his upcoming presentation at Paris Fashion Week. “Unbeknownst to us, we were working on the same theme, and our meeting became inevitable.”

Lace holds personal meaning for Maxence because it is linked to his Bruges heritage, where the craft took hold in the 16th century after its introduction by the Medici family. Its intricacy, its structure built from air and tension and the countless hours of handwork required to produce even the smallest motif have always fascinated him. The idea of capturing that delicacy in precious materials—not merely mimicking the pattern, but recreating its suppleness and flexibility—became a challenge he felt compelled to explore. 

At the heart of the Lace & Diamond Collection is an exclusive, patented technique that pushes high jewellery into entirely new territory. Each piece begins on an Avalon base—a technical material that serves as a temporary scaffold. Gold and diamonds are then woven directly onto it, stitch by stitch, with millimetre-level precision under a microscope. Once the structure is complete, the Avalon is submerged in water, dissolving it to release a pure lace lattice of precious metal and stones.

A process that goes far beyond traditional craftsmanship, the result is jewellery that is astonishingly light, flexible and durable, behaving more like fabric than metal. “My biggest challenge was creating an extremely fine 18k gold thread that wouldn't break during the embroidery weaving process,” Maxence explains. “We only found the technical solution at the beginning of August, with some pieces requiring more than a kilometre of gold thread.”

The jewels found their natural home on Victor's Spring/Summer 2026 catwalk at Paris Fashion Week, alongside the fashion designer's convention-bending couture designs—an homage to the worlds of drag culture, theatre and performance art. The lightness and flexibility of Van Der Bauwede’s precious lace allowed the jewellery to drape across the body rather than sitting rigidly against it, pairing seamlessly with Victor’s rococo-style corset-laced dresses and a flowing gown with lace inserts. Each piece is treated as a unique artwork, accompanied by a numbered certificate of authenticity personally signed by both Maxence Van Der Bauwede and Victor Weinsanto.

Founded by Maxence in 1983, Van Der Bauwede Genève draws on a family legacy dating back to 1890 while embracing a fiercely independent, free-spirited and non-conformist approach to jewellery making. Its Geneva and Valenza workshops specialise in transforming complex ideas into reality. The translation of lace into gold and diamonds is the house’s latest innovation, following earlier breakthroughs such as a man-made substance derived from silica, sculpted with laser beams to create a highly resistant, high-gloss material for both jewellery and watches. 

The Lace & Diamond Collection signals a fundamental shift in how jewellery can move, behave and be experienced. By reimagining a centuries-old craft through cutting-edge processes, Van Der Bauwede Genève has opened a space where couture and high jewellery become a single creative language. For Maxence, this patented lace technique opens a future of possibilities: “Victor and I hope to apply it more subtly to precious haute couture and jewellery in the coming year. We can create dresses that are true jewels. The sky’s the limit.”