Ancient Jewels
Maison Auclert
“Of course the design industry is very much marketing-driven, aiming at satisfying what they analyse to be the market’s demands on product cycles that are shorter and shorter. I think that the great designers (of yesterday and today) are those who are able to disturb the general acceptance and propose something that moves us, that makes us react and take notice, that changes things permanently. In my field, the question is not what jewellery today’s clients want to wear, but what jewellery their children will want to wear.” — Marc Auclert
Jewellery as an applied art might very well be the oldest form of artistic expression in humanity, yet today, as is the case largely across the spectrum of decorative arts, there’s a distinct lack of originality and too many pieces are “mass made” for a market receptive to advertising and PR sales tactics; yet this only serves to emphasise those unique works of art, executed by skilled craftsmen, that are a true showcase of technique and vision. Indeed it would seem, perhaps as a reaction to years of stale ubiquity, that the luxury market, once more, is responding to true creativity — with a desire for unique “high-jewellery” that can be worn day in day out and not merely left to stagnate, gathering dust in a safe deposit box. For those with a taste for the more refined and less flashy, Maison Auclert’s unconventional offerings might offer a welcome respite to the Van Cleef “Clover” necklaces and Cartier “Nail” bracelets seen year-in-year-out littering the Champs-Élysées. The grandson of an antiquarian, French jewellery designer Marc Auclert, 55, caught the collecting bug at an early age (for e.g. as a young man, still living with his parents, he used the entirety of his first pay-check to buy a monumental belle époque window frame — standing at just over six feet tall), working the flea markets of Paris, before going on to forge a successful career in the jewellery industry, working for such esteemed houses as Sotheby’s, De Beers and Chanel. Then, just over ten years ago, Auclert launched his own boutique, Maison Auclert, situated on rue de Castiglione, just a stone’s throw from Place Vendôme; which specialises in combining museum-worthy antiquities, for e.g. Roman intaglios and Byzantine medallions, with bold, contemporary settings of Auclert’s own design (although the idea wasn’t new, having originated over two decades earlier when Auclert set a pre-Columbian gold frog as a ring for a friend). “I decided to be very niche,” explains Auclert, “If you don’t have the means you have to be very niche, and the idea I had at the time was actually to take an old behaviour in the jewellery business which is called bijou de réemploie, that means you reemploy antiquities and mount them on modern jewellery mountings, which has been done since the Middle Ages, but the specificity was that in my store you would only find such pieces of jewellery.”
For Auclert, the key difference between old and new is, quite simply, that antique pieces possess a soul. He chooses them, with no particular allegiances to continents, cultures, styles or eras, based on whether they speak to him — they’re objects that he loves; then, he imagines a setting that will enhance their colour, patina, shape and symbolism, so as to create a piece of jewellery that, although sensitive to historical narrative and context, in its style is unmistakably modern. In it’s very essence it is a practice that dates back to the Renaissance tradition of objets montés, when Goldsmiths, watchmakers and cabinetmakers of the era invented the concept of “mounted objects”, where Classical Greek and Roman jewels — in particular miniature engraved gemstones — were reimagined entirely, remounted and transformed into never-before-seen objects. Auclert is merely carrying on a tradition, updating it and giving it contemporary relevance; each piece, a wearable work of art, hand-made by artisans of the best contemporary workshops in Paris. “We love things that are old and give us roots and give us purpose,” the designer remarks. “On the other hand we want to translate them into something modern, or even into something future.” Some of Auclert’s most extraordinary creations include a pair of Meiji era menuki (or samurai sword ornaments) repurposed as a pair of gold earrings and an oversized egg-shaped cocktail ring that opens to reveal an anatomically correct Roman penis carved out of coral (In the Greco-Roman era, icons of male genitalia were worn to ward off the evil eye). Perhaps the most spectacular piece, to date, was a commission for an American collector who wanted Auclert to design a mount for his rare 72-karat eighteenth-century Mogul emerald, which was carved on both sides. The result was a reversible black gold pendant, surrounded on one side by rubies, and on the other, by rose-cut diamonds. Even within the rarefied world of fine jewellery (which is of course an extreme luxury for an elite stratum of society), Auclert’s work is — a fact to which he readily confesses — something of an acquired taste; sought after by a refined and educated clientele who understand and appreciate the designer’s audacious and poetic approach.
The French jewellery designer Marc Auclert, who, after working for Chanel, Sotheby’s and De Beers, founded his own boutique
The London List: What was it that drew you to a career in jewellery design?
Marc Auclert: When I was younger, I had a passion for crystals and gemstones but thought of it only as a hobby. At my business school I met people from the jewellery business and realised there was a whole industry dealing with what I loved! I started my career on the business side of things and, like many, I was designing in my head. When I decided to drop the corporate world and go and fend for myself, I finally allowed myself to design my own pieces.
You’ve worked with some incredibly prestigious brands, including Chanel fine jewellery, which you helped launch, as well as Sotheby’s Diamonds and De Beers; how would you say that experience has shaped your approach to jewellery design?
Working for established brands, working with the materials they deal with, working with the people who make the reality of these companies, is an incomparable experience, one not to miss out on. I started at the beginning, learning my job, not from textbooks but from listening and experiencing. During all these years, in those companies, I basically learnt the jewellery business, which means the buying, the designing, the producing, the marketing and the selling!
The design industry seems to have an obsession with chasing “trends” and “newness”, something which can often be counter-productive, resulting in a rotation of uninspiring, unoriginal products that lack any real merit, depth or originality. Clearly the world of fine jewellery is somewhat removed from the high-street and decisions based purely on profit margin; and so how important are trends, and does it impact the way in which you approach collections?
Of course the design industry is very much marketing-driven, aiming at satisfying what they analyse to be the market’s demands on product cycles that are shorter and shorter. I think that the great designers (of yesterday and today) are those who are able to disturb the general acceptance and propose something that moves us, that makes us react and take notice, that changes things permanently. In my field, the question is not what jewellery today’s clients want to wear, but what jewellery their children will want to wear.
What was it that spurred your interest in ancient jewellery, and the approach of the Renaissance masters, creating new settings around ancient and antique stones?
I tend to think it’s an acquired taste. You start in life by being attracted to gemstones, move on to big-rock jewellery, to decorative jewellery, then artisanship, to finally access the intricacies and refinements of ancient goods and techniques. And when you start loving those designs and techniques you start thinking on how to adapt them on a modern piece of jewellery.
A gold bracelet set with a pair of 17th century gold menuki (samurai sword ornaments), featuring tigers, by Japanese goldsmith Teiji Goto (1603-1673), by Maison Auclert
You’ve said that ancient and antique jewellery has a soul, but how do you decide which particular pieces to mount as jewels?
Why I go for this antique more than that one, I don’t know. When I see a piece, I immediately know how to mount it — if I don’t get that spark, if the piece doesn't speak to me at once, if I don’t see it mounted, then there are good chances it will stay orphan in a box without any good idea from me. I don’t know if it’s because I have good “plastic intuition” or if I’m just lazy.
Does working with historical jewels necessitate a different approach to that employed when creating purely contemporary designs?
Absolutely. Like with gemstones, the antique artefact has to be authentic and from reputable source. In addition it has to be durable and solid — there’s no need to set an antique amber or ivory, it’s too brittle — but also attractive in size, shape, colour and patina. And of course to be able to be mounted without having to interfere with it — and by that, I mean drilling, re-polishing, etc.
You’ve described your pieces as “cerebral” and “intellectual” jewellery; is that a reflection on your client base, approach to design or both?
Both. My pieces are not the classic brand-driven, valuable-looking gem-set pieces, they incorporate elements that require a bit of knowledge and understanding — the symbol on a Roman-period intaglio for instance; they therefore attract the people who are looking for such things, for such culture. It’s not about story-telling, the piece is story/history in itself.
Although you work with antique jewels, your aesthetic still seems very modern; is that a deliberate choice, and can achieving the right balance be difficult?
Absolutely, that is key for me. I do not want to offer jewellery that looks antique or is “revivalist”, I aim to propose pieces that are sleek and modern, that appeal to a modern and elegant clientele. I seek that tension between the old and the new, the intricate and the sleek.
Ambition or talent: which matters more to success?
Success is 50% talent, 30% professionalism — including ambition — and 20% luck. We all know talented designers who do not succeed and, reversely, un-talented designers who do succeed!
Which artist or designer has had the biggest impact on your work and why?
Numerous artist and designers have nourished me over the years, of course. But in my field, that is, the field of repurposing antiques into jewellery, there is, in particular, an eighteenth century creator that stands out: Luigi Valadier, a Roman jeweller who incrusted beautiful antique glyptics onto fantastic modern pieces. His works at the Louvre are for me the height of chic.
A ring set with a fragmentary carnelian intaglio, 1st century B.C., engraved with a lion, the missing iconography imagined and engraved in gold, by Maison Auclert
On that note, what’s your favourite work of art design?
I have moods. Right now I’m very much attracted to silverware, 18th century, French or Belgian. The quality of craftsmanship is wonderful and the Rococo style is so novel, so disruptive!
What was the first important piece of art (or design) you ever owned?
I remember working at the flea market as a student and spending all my earnings on an adorable impressionist painting by a certain Jules Couez; I thought at the time it was the best painting on earth! Closer in time however, I fell in love with two paper sculptures by Japanese artist Noriko Ambe, exhibited at 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo, which I purchased. Ambe spends hour after hour cutting by hand each sheet of paper to then compile and compress them to form a sculpture with contours and shapes — she uses a special white paper that is very elegant. The way they play with light is very mineralogic.
Which artists would you collect if you could?
If I win the lottery this week-end I would buy right away an aerial sculpture by Fausto Melotti, a colourful painting by Myriam Cahn and a tall Greek or Hellenistic marble torso.
An object you would never part with?
My mother’s Russian icon; she was British, loved the flea-markets and that icon was the first piece she bought asking me my advice — I was 14 maybe — and I felt so grown-up!
What was the last thing you bought and loved?
A 1930’s gold Champagne stirrer signed Mellerio — I love its quality and its absurdity! I mean people spend years putting bubbles in Champagne and then you get rid of them with one stylish movement!
What’s your biggest extravagance?
For my fiftieth birthday I offered myself an expensive wristwatch. I never wear it...!
The site that most inspires you?
For me, the best place in the world is the Louvre Museum. I love museums in general, and their generosity, how anyone can access wonders and treasures for free. They are a magical and serious source of learning, of inspiration, of escape.
Where’s the most unforgettable place you’ve travelled?
I’ll never forget my first impressions arriving in Luxor, in Venice and in Angkor Wat. I remember writing a poem when I first visited Venice as a student on a rail-pass … how corny!
Where would you like to go next?
I need to go back to Africa. I lived ages ago in South Africa but I preferred Asia at the time — with age I realise I need to go back and confront myself with this mysterious continent ... I’m starting to understand its art ...
A Sumerian silver mask, 2nd millenium B.C., mounted as a ring on oxidized silver and eighteen karat red gold, with two diamonds, by Maison Auclert
What’s the best souvenir you’ve bought home?
Everything I brought back from wonderful Japan where I lived for three years. For instance a white lacquer sculpture-stool for the shower. The Japanese shower seated, which I also learnt to do, so comfortable and logical!
Tell us about a recent “find”?
My latest discoveries are: the Pinault Collection with its wonderfully simple hall redesigned by Tadao Ando, right in the middle of Paris, a super little restaurant near Montorgueil called Le Rubis, with a lovely bistro mood, great food at honest prices, and super hemp bedlinen in sophisticated colours at Couleur Chanvre! Le Rubis, 10 Rue du Marché Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris (+33 1 42 61 03 34)
If you didn’t live in Paris, where would you live?
Anywhere as long as it’s a capital city.
What’s your favourite room in your apartment?
My bedroom! I spend lots of time in my bed — I told you I was lazy — where I read, work, phone, etc.! Do not contact on a Sunday morning!
What’s your biggest indulgence?
My most favourite thing in the world is to have dinner with close friends in a bistro-style restaurant.
What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Plenty but one struck my mind: it was Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life (2015). It made me realise that I had a simple life and that I was after all quite balanced, in a lucky way ... I had the same feeling reading ages ago Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (1995), understanding how fortunate I was compared to people whose life can be so tragic. Such books make me appreciative in a stoic way.
What would you do if you didn’t work in design?
I wanted to be a surgeon...
What ambition do you still have?
I want my company to be a success, I want to lead a happy/serene life and age graciously, I want the planet to get better.
What’s the greatest challenge of our time?
The growing force of propaganda and the way people go for it more and more really frightens me.
What’s next?
I’m currently working on a boutique line hopefully ready for Christmas and also a new line for an exhibition with Carpenters Workshop Gallery who have asked some jewellery designers to come up with some pieces around a given theme – it’s very interesting in a challenging way!