“Haute Couture Week is the time when high jewellery brands showcase the best of the best,” said Chao, who for the past 10 years has been unveiling her jewellery masterpieces in the elegant surroundings of the Ritz Hotel or the Hotel de la Marine in Place de la Concorde.

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“It attracts a more global crowd,” she said. That has helped her cement her brand’s international status. “Many of the art and jewellery collectors, who are existing clients or have been to some of our previous exhibitions and viewings, make sure they visit us during this period in Paris.”

“Of course, Asian clients came back last year to Paris, but they are not the only ones,” said Hu, who is now based in Monaco. “It is also a key moment for American and European ones, as well.” Presenting her novelties in the birthplace of Parisian high jewellery is “definitely a true consecration”, she added.

Hu joined the Fédération de la Haute Couture in 2018 and has presented her collections at the Ritz and the Hotel Bristol, where last year she showed pretty gem-set lotus bud rings that bloomed when swivelled, and an impressively large brushed silver lily with a 265-carat rubellite on a stem-shaped lacquer bracelet, along with various flower-inspired brooches and bangles.

This year she was inspired by Zhang Daqian, the Chinese master painter, and Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Marie Antoinette’s court artist. Zhang’s “Album of Flora” collection was the source for her show-stopper, the vibrant gem-set Celestial Lotus necklace in titanium.

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Hu’s fabulous Enchanted Lily bangle with a 53.92-carat peridot on a hand-painted enamelled brass stemlike bangle was inspired by American artist George Walter Dawson’s Auratum Lilies. Hu will also be unveiling some enchanting new butterfly designs. “Jewellery art is about the original concept, the vision and the eye that can see in three-dimensional perspective,” she explained.

Taking a rather more low-key approach is Michelle Ong, who spends a few weeks in Europe during the summer and takes the opportunity to travel with some of her latest high jewellery pieces created for Carnet. “I have French clients, and many Chinese clients who spend time in Europe at this time of year,” she said. However, she eschews the exclusive hotels and prefers to invite clients to more intimate and informal meetings at her Paris town house.

Ong was one of the pioneers to bring a new mood of femininity to jewellery design, following the minimalist tastes of the 1990s. The feminine undercurrent remains present in her high jewellery that this summer includes a pair of earrings and a brooch, inspired by the ipomoea leaf, which that twinkle with translucency because of the rose-cut diamonds selected. There are also a cute tortoise brooch in tsavorites, emeralds and green garnets; and some long dangling Ottoman-style diamond and multicoloured sapphire earrings she calls Iris. All these pieces get a personal introduction, with Ong explaining their origins and inspiration to her select clients.

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“Jewellery is so personal, and this gives me an opportunity to talk about my work, explain themes, techniques and craftsmanship,” Ong said.

For Chao, apart from the prestige of presenting her masterpieces in Paris alongside the luxury brands, there is professional respect, as France has a remarkable heritage for making the finest jewellery.

“It owns some of the best jewellery workshops and most experienced craftspeople,” she said. “This is the reason why I like to work and explore with them, making innovative breakthroughs together, because I feel that these artisans – who are some of the most talented and experienced in my opinion – can execute the beauty and precision that I pursue.”

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Together they have created some exquisite, jewelled artworks such as the pair of astonishingly large Spring Cardamom brooches, as juicy as ripe fruit with two cabochon Colombian emeralds of around 80 carats each, set in titanium with diamonds and other precious green gemstones. There is also a dainty diamond dragonfly brooch with pear-cut sapphires on its wings, and some unusual emerald – clearly her favourite stone – and diamond earrings from the Architectural collection.

Chao said that debuting her Black Label Masterpieces and White Label collection, which were “co-created by an Asian artist and French craftsmen, to appreciators from all around the world on this annual luxury occasion … means a lot to me”.

Hu agreed that showing in Paris has proved to be the right move. Although she previews some pieces at The European Fine Art Fairs in Maastricht and New York in the spring, which she describes as “VVIP events”, the best she saves for Paris. She similarly turns to the Paris ateliers to make her creations.

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“Working with the deepest respect for French high-jeweller craftsmanship, it was important for me to present my novelties at the same time as the Place Vendome’s historic jewellers. Paris is the right place and moment to be communicating high jewellery,” Hu said. The history, the allure, the sophistication, the fashion and the exquisite jewels make this one of the most dazzling weeks to be in Paris each year.