The ultra-confidential world of high jewelry is supported by valuable ancestral craftsmanship. Valérie Messika has successfully entered this exclusive domain, launching a Maison which brims with technical innovation with ease, tradition and modernity.
The first stage in the development of a piece of Fine Jewelry requires around a hundred sketches, before the design is approved for modelling.
A gouache is then created by an expert with a keen eye and a steady hand.
This provides a concrete vision of the final creation and acts as a bridge between the designer and the jeweller.
The transition from the creative idea to reality is a path that is rarely clear or mapped out in advance.
This process involves multiple conversations and much research and deliberation with the workshop.
Having produced a variety of models, the jeweller then constructs the various elements which will form the structure of the jewel (springs, chatons, stones, settings and more).
The jeweller meticulously assembles the various metal pieces in order to give form to the various components of the jewel’s structure. The drawing finally comes to life, the curves take form and the harmonious architecture is revealed. The jeweller has carried out almost 200 hours of work at this stage of manufacture.
The jeweller meticulously finishes the assembly of the final structure with a welding torch, fixing the jewel’s mount into place whilst making sure to retain its flexibility.
This structure will then house the various carefully-cut stones, giving life to a work of perfect proportions.
Outstanding expertise forged in the workshops of the Maison, constantly enriched to give life to the impossible.
The delicate operation of polishing is performed at several stages during the manufacture of the jewel.
This process, carried out several times before and after setting, helps to reveal the full splendour of the queen of stones.
The skilful hands of the polisher will spend more than 50 hours on a custom finish, giving the desired mirror effect to the entire structure.