Jean Vendome - Pioneer of contemporary jewelry

JEAN VENDOME (1930-2017) Jean Vendome (1930-2017) is a rare jewellery artist. He has had a profound influence jewelry from the 1950s to the present day. A jewel is born from the encounter of a woman, a couple, a stone and a jeweler. It is this that makes Jean Vendome's work a fascinating art. fascinating art. Born in Lyon in 1930, he began his apprenticeship at the age of 13, and opened his first boutique-atelier in Paris at the age of 18. During his 67-year career, he produced some 30,000 unique pieces including those presented here from the 80s and 90s. Jean Vendome meticulously selects his crystals, gemstones and precious stones, designs his jewelry, makes his own models and works with both soft and hard stones revealing successive crystallizations, magnifying the transparency of colors and combine them in unprecedented palettes. From his encounter with the author of L'écriture des pierres, Roger Caillois, for the creation of his academician's sword, there are still words to be found in the jeweler's guest book, "Pour Jean Vendome qui n'oublie pas que l'artiste nait de craftsman" and a "sword of the century" on display in the permanent collections of the des Confluences (Lyon), which embodies a "mineralogical friendship". The couple's exceptional collection, dating from the 80s and 90s, features a wide range of minerals. a wide palette of minerals and a festival of exuberant colors: amethyst, green apophyllite green apophyllite, azurite, rough emerald crystal, tourmaline, rhodocrosite, cultured pearls cultured pearls, carved coral, jasper, aventurine, amethyst flower, chalcedony, quartz phantom quartz. Jean Vendome's aim is not to make extravagant jewelry. Nor is nor is it to dazzle; he simply seeks to break away from convention and bring and bring together jewelry and the world of art. For the jeweler, jewelry cannot be melted down because its value lies in the creation, not the material. He considers it a work of art, "a mobile mini-sculpture that anyone can wear and bring to life can wear and bring to life, depending on the time of day. in a shop window". The pared-down shapes and pure lines contrast with the warmth of crystals crystals set in gold. This eye for jewelry has been passed on to his son, Thierry Vendome, who has been making a name for himself for forty years. He works in his boutique-workshop in Paris. His jewelry in this collection reflects what he learned working alongside working alongside his father from the age of sixteen. He plays directly on the cut of the materials in paesine, served by a material in worked gold creating emotion and a pareidolia of Don Quixote revealing the magic of stones. Sophie LEFÈVRE