Tiffany & Co. has just partnered with the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris on a landmark partnership to preserve the creative legacy of its one-time creative director, Jean Schlumberger. Read more about it below.
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The house of Tiffany & Co. has announced it is collaborating with Paris’ storied Musée des Arts Décoratifs on a new programme dedicated to conserving the work of its legendary designer, Jean Schlumberger.
Led by Tiffany’s extensive Archive department, the multi-year initiative will be tasked with preserving and digitally imaging roughly 5,000 original drawing and 5,000 archival documents related to Schlumberger, ensuring the works are available for future generations.
To kick off the partnership, Tiffany & Co. also collaborated with Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on a show called I Am Only A Pencil during Paris Fashion Week, which offered chic onlookers the opportunity to learn about Schlumberger’s creative universe through a selection of his original drawing, archival materials and jewellery, including pieces once owned by the designer’s close friend and client, the high society philanthropist Bunny Mellon.
When Jean Schlumberger joined Tiffany & Co. in 1956, he ushered in a new era of creativity for the House and for the world of jewellery at large. This was a momentous step forward for both parties – Schlumberger would become Tiffany & Co.’s first named designer, and, in turn, the company would embark on an entirely new business model for a fast-changing post-war world, one that would dovetail the brand’s long and rich heritage with modernity, innovation and individuality.
Born in Alsace, France, in 1907, Schlumberger, who sketched from a young age, was expected to join the family textile- manufacturing business or pursue a banking career, but stood firm in his decision to forge his own artistic path. During his early twenties, he left a brief stint in a Berlin bank and headed for Paris, working first for French couturier Lucien Lelong, then subsequently at an art-publishing house.
He immersed himself in the city’s pulsating, hedonistic, rebellious creativity, which was alive with new ideas and cultural influences, from African art, jazz music and Josephine Baker to cubism, Russian émigrés and the blossoming of couture. Originality was worshipped; the only sin was to be boring.
While there, Schlumberger began making fashion jewellery, all the rage at the time, using antique fragments, coral, shells, cameos and Meissen porcelain flowers discovered at the flea market. They were admired and worn by Schlumberger’s sophisticated circles, which included model Natalie Paley, socialite Daisy Fellowes and fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who went on to become a lifelong friend and supporter.
Around 1937, a pair of his earrings worn by Marina, Duchess of Kent apparently attracted the eye of celebrated couturier Elsa Schiaparelli, who subsequently commissioned Schlumberger to create whimsical, figurative fantasy buttons for her collections – the most notable of which was perhaps the flying acrobat for the 1938 Circus Collection. In doing so, Schlumberger joined an illustrious roll call of artists who worked for Schiaparelli, including Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau and Louis Aragon. These surrealist ornaments gave birth to the phenomenon of ‘bijoux fantaisie’.
Jean Schlumberger Jasmine Necklacein gold, platinum, coloured sapphires, and diamonds,1962–63. Collection of Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon (1910–2014) The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2015.77 – CREDIT: Tiffany & Co.
The association with Schiaparelli brought Schlumberger international renown, particularly in the United States, where he was celebrated as the “tall, darkly fascinating Parisian.” He turned to precious jewellery as early as 1938, the year in which Fellowes commissioned him to produce a diamond flower brooch, which she wore with a real flower; meanwhile, in 1939, his articulated goldfish lighter became the must-have accessory in Paris and New York.
Schlumberger’s early start as a designer was soon upended when he enlisted during World War II, a period in which he survived Dunkirk and went on to serve in Charles de Gaulle’s Free French forces. When he moved to New York, in 1946, he had a ready-made clientele, and, in partnership with his childhood friend Bongard, was able to open a small boutique on East 63rd Street. (The nephew of couturier Paul Poiret, Bongard understood the business, having worked for both Lacloche Frères and Boivin.)
High-fashion, upper-crust clients, including Babe Paley, Bunny Mellon and Vreeland, beat a path to their door, with the latter being a recipient of one of the most celebrated pieces in jewellery history: the ‘Trophée de Vaillance’ brooch, which featured a three dimensional, diamond-encrusted armour-breastplate that was set against an amethyst-smothered shield, with a bow, arrow, and various blades jutting out at all angles. Inspired by the escutcheons found in Nancy, France, as well as symbols of war and gallantry, Vreeland saw it as an emblem of protection for “the beautiful women of the world” and kept it on her bedside table.
Schlumberger pinned the colour with gold studs. Resultingly, all elements coalesced into an imaginative, individualistic style of exuberant yet refined rococo. And, above all, Schlumberger created an entirely new expression of nature, an unsentimental depiction of earthly wonders – fish, flowers, birds, vegetation – interpreted through a mix of fantasy, whimsy and stylised realism.
When capturing the energy and unstoppable growth of nature, he balanced abundance with restraint, taming overgrown chaos through the perfection of form and proportions. He explained, “I try to make everything look as if it were growing, uneven, at random, organic, in motion. I want to capture the irregularity of the universe.”
Like this? Take a look at the new Jean Schlumberger Bird on a Rock creations for Tiffany & Co.
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