words by: Samantha Baird
OBJECT DESIRE CLAUDE LALANNE’S CROCODILE SERIES Inspired by flora and fauna, Surrealism and Art Nouveau, the French sculptor Claude Lalanne’s iconic Crocodile series first came to life at a Parisian zoo under a full moon at midnight in 1972. After deciding to incorporate the crocodile’s unique form into her bronze work and realizing that the only way to replicate its intricate details was with the actual animal, Lalanne requested an appointment with a zoo director. He agreed to give her the remains of a deceased crocodile so she waited for the circle of life to reach its end, and when the crocodile died she visited the
zoo to pick it up. Then began this crocodile’s transformation into its next life—a beautiful work of art. Using galvanoplasty, Lalanne applied a metal deposit through electric current on the crocodile to capture its form. Next, she used bronze casting to translate the reptilian motif into this famed armchair, and numerous other acclaimed furniture designs. Lalanne’s talent for taking nature and recreating it with elegant whimsy, coupled with the story behind this piece makes it a highly desired object—so much so that in 2017 a single armchair sold for $1.2 million!
WALLIS SIMPSON’S CARTIER PANTHER BRACELET
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In 1952, an exquisite, and undeniably iconic, piece of jewelry entered society on the wrist of Miss Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor. The platinum, diamond and onyx panther bracelet with piercing marquise-shaped emerald eyes was commissioned from Cartier and co-designed by the Duchess with jeweler Jeanne Toussaint. To properly capture the identity of such a desirable beast Toussaint studied the large cats at Paris’s Zoo de Vincennes. In 1987, after the Duchess’s death, a collection of her jewels including the bracelet were auctioned through Sotheby’s where Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al Fayed purchased it for $1.4 million. Twenty-six years later the iconic bracelet returned to Sotheby’s where four telephone bidders raised its price to over $7 million before it was finally purchased by an anonymous buyer. This jewelry classic is sure to live on for many generations to come!
