Jaeger-LeCoultre Unveils Golden Flowers Collaboration With Digital Sculptor Brendi Wedinger

Jaeger-LeCoultre has expanded its cultural universe once more with its latest Golden Flowers collaboration with digital floristry sculptor Brendi Wedinger under the Made of Makers Programme to celebrate the Maison’s Reverso timepieces. 

Wedinger created a series of hyper-realistic digital sculptures that pay homage to the brand’s impeccable use of materials, its connection to the Vallée de Joux, which serves as the home for the manufacture, and the lush flora decorating the mountainsides. 

BAZAAR spoke with the Los Angeles-based designer about her experience in the valley, her creative process and what makes this collaboration with the esteemed brand so special. 

What was your first reaction when you received the call from Jaeger-LeCoultre? 

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Wedinger: My first reaction was an urge to learn more about them, and what really appealed to me was their deep heritage in the watchmaking space where they spent a lot of time and effort to innovate. Also, my fiancée really likes watches and Jaeger-LeCoultre rang a bell. I was like: “Oh, you have one of these right?” And he was like: “They call them the watchmaker of watchmakers!” 

His enthusiasm was also a big motivator as well because he is very dear to me. When they invited me to actually visit the manufacture, I thought that this collaboration with a luxury brand would be quite different from other experiences I’ve had.

Speaking of the visit, what was the Vallée de Joux like? 

Wedinger: The Vallée is gorgeous and the manufacture is tucked away across from a lake and to get there you're going through winding hills, passing fields of poppies and there's these big yellow trees full of light yellow flowers – just seeing that is romantic in itself. 

When you get there, and you're learning about how they make the watches, you don't see a factory with robotic arms. There are artisans, who hunker down with the long spectacles, hammering all of the different pieces. It's so complex and it really felt like a fairy tale. It was very inspiring and I hope everyone gets a chance to see it.

Did you spend a lot of time with the flowers? 

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Wedinger: I was only there for a day so we didn't get to do a five-hour hike to see all the different flowers. However, after the visit, it was really important to me to do research before diving into anything and making sure my references were actually native to the area. 

So, I purchased some books to read up on what flowers could be found in the Vallée, which were more common and which were rarer. That's really where I got my core inspiration and I connected with the brand’s slow way of making watches, their attention to detail and the types of materials and finishes they use to create one-of-a-kind flowers that don't exist in nature, but are a hybrid of each other.

What did the entire creation process entail? 

Wedinger: I like to sculpt my pieces by hand first versus a technical formula because I feel like I can put more care and craft into the artwork. This way, it can also become a truly unique piece because if I were to use a mathematical formula, which is possible in 3D art, there's nothing to say that the same formula can't exist elsewhere. 

Whereas if it's done by me, the probability of someone recreating the same exact thing is quite low and I think it's the same with high watchmaking because everything down to the design is done by hand. 

Hand sculpting does take quite a long time, but it is the most rewarding part because it feels like I'm making something that is special and kind of my little gift back to nature.

Which one of the three – 1931 Golden Poppy, Orchid or Thistle – is your favourite?

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Wedinger: It's hard to pick a favourite, I love them all. But I think I would say the Golden Orchid and it's nice that Jaeger-LeCoultre picked that one to be the hero flower because orchids of all species are my favourite. 

They're very dramatic and can sometimes look like animals and take different shapes – they're fascinating. The Vallée de Joux has an orchid called the Late Spider-orchid and it’s not scary at all. It's quite cute but it's really rare to find and if you come across it, you'd be quite lucky.

It must be special because Jaeger-LeCoultre also bred an actual hybrid species, the 1931 White Orchid, exclusively from this partnership. What do you think about it? 

Wedinger: The 1931 White Orchid flower has similar flat petals to the Golden Orchid sculpture that I created and it has the same details on the side. I was super excited to see that they were able to achieve that because I knew this collaboration was going to have some physical manifestations. But I wasn't aware that this would be it. It's beautiful and creates another layer of depth to the project overall.