Suzanne Belperron
| Suzanne Belperron | |
|---|---|
Suzanne Belperron on her balcony
wearing a kimono in embroidered silk (Archives Olivier Baroin) |
|
| Born |
Madeleine, Suzanne, Marie, Claire Vuillerme 26 September 1900 Saint-Claude, France |
| Died | 28 March 1983 (aged 82) Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Education | School of Fine Arts of Besançon |
| Occupation | Jeweler |
Suzanne Belperron (1900–1983), born in Saint-Claude, France, was an influential 20th-century jewellery designer based in Paris. She worked for the Boivin and Herz jewellery houses before the outbreak of World War II. Subsequently, she took over the Herz company, renaming it Herz-Belperron. Belperron had many important clients, from royalty, arts and showbusiness on both sides of the Atlantic.
Madeleine Suzanne Marie Claire Vuillerme, daughter of merchant Jules Alix Vuillerme (1861–1913) and Marie Clarisse Faustine Bailly-Maître (1866–1931), was born 26 Sep 1900 in the town of Saint-Claude, in Jura Mountains (eastern France), 60 kilometres from Geneva (Switzerland).
To fill the long winter months, the inhabitants of the Jura region had developed over the centuries a wide array of traditional crafts, including the art of cutting stones. The town of Saint-Claude was also, between 1885 and 1929, one of the most important world centres of diamonds cutting.
Aware of Suzanne's talent as a designer, her mother encouraged her by enrolling her in the School of Fine Arts in the town of Besançon. This public school was created in 1773 by the Swiss painter Melchior Wirsch and the French sculptor Luc Breton.
Suzanne Vuillerme won first prize in the "Decorative Art" annual competition of 1918, with a pendant-watch. That prize was the reward for her years of study in "Watch-making and Jewelry Decoration".
In March 1919, soon after her move to Paris at the beginning of the "Golden Twenties", Suzanne Vuillerme was taken on as a modelist-designer by Jeanne Boivin, the widow of René Boivin. The French jewellery house Boivin, created in 1890, had lost its founder in 1917, who was a talented designer.
From 1920 the collections of the Maison René Boivin featured many jewels inspired by the sketches of Suzanne Vuillerme from 1917, when she was still a student at the School of Fine Arts. At the time, these large curvaceous jewels went against the dominant Art Deco style, with its refined, geometric and structured jewels.
Jeanne Boivin, who always considered Suzanne "a bit like her own child", recognised that she 'plays a major role in the artistic life of the Maison René Boivin'. Without child, Suzanne dedicated herself by advancing the creative cachet and international reputation of the jewellery house. Besides, in 1924, Suzanne Belperron becomes, at 23 years old, co-director of the Boivin jewellery house.
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