The house of Chanel  has sponsored an installation by French artist Gad Weil in Vendôme, which started on July 1 and will run until July 7. The artist installation coincides with the brand’s exhibit of its new high-end jewellery collection, Les Blés de Chanel and the inspiration for both the installation happens to be the ordinary sheaves of wheat.

Weil will plant a wheat field in black lacquered boxes, next to the Ritz Paris hotel, across the square from Chanel’s jewellery and watch flagship. The installation will then travel to Saumur, France, the birthplace of Gabrielle Chanel, said a spokeswoman from the brand before the installation opened for public viewing.

Chanel’s affinity with wheat can be traced back to its founder, Gabrielle Bonheur ‘Coco’ Chanel, who was a woman of a distinct background and had a special bonding with peasants. She was born during the harvest season on August 19, therefore, the designer was particularly fond of sheaves of wheat. Chanel’s love for the humble wheat sheaf grew with time and she even used it in the décor of her apartment at 31 Rue Cambon. The lady used wheat sheaf as a good luck charm, which ran throughout the displayed articles at her private apartment like wheat brass bouquet, a gold-leaf adornment for a fireplace mantel, a drawing of a single ear of wheat, which was a gift from Salvador Dalí. One of the biggest statement pieces in her private apartment at the Rue Cambon was the wheat table in bronze that Robert Goossens has designed for her. Today, it adorns the freshly redone Coco Chanel Suite at the Ritz Paris.

Chanel’s affection for the crop can also be seen in the brand’s high-end jewellery collection, Les Blés de Chanel, displayed at the Ritz Paris The exhibit includes intricate little pieces of blé in gold and diamonds and other precious stones. The highlight of the exhibit, however, is the Fête des Moissons, a necklace flaunting an octagonal 25-carat fancy intense yellow diamond along with a further 95-plus carats of multi-coloured diamonds in various cuts comprising the wheat stalks-more than 1,200 diamonds and 120 carats in all, along with other pieces, Brins de Printemps necklace with diamonds, tourmalines, peridots, and aquamarines; the Epi d’Ete necklace with a 4.7-carat emerald and a shower of coloured diamonds and sapphires; and the Moisson d’Or brooch with yellow sapphires.

Also, it’s been quite a while that Chanel did something with coloured stones!