Paris, France – Sculptor, artist, a lover of gemstones, a pioneer of fine jewelry making, Jean Vendome’s career spanned nearly seven decades. He would combine eccentric and surrealist elements like seashells, pebbles and crab claws with contemporary graphic design, gemstones and minerals to create singular pieces of jewelry, in reality works of art. He favored the so-called phantom stones like rutilated quartz or lapis lazuli whose mysterious inclusions gave the piece some extra depth, some extra soul.

L’Ecole, the School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, is presenting an exhibition of his work entitled Jean Vendome, Artist Jeweler, bringing together some 130 pieces emanating from public and private collections. If you can’t come to Paris right now, The Gourmet Gazette is bringing the show to you with the article followed by a slide show

Jean Vendome pursued new shapes combining raw crystal settings and sculptures with geodes as he indulged his passion for mineralogy that he shared with his friend, the writer Roger Caillois for whom he made the sword for his induction into the French Academy. His chromatic palette was rich fluctuating between warm and cold colors. He was a master of juxtaposition: crab claws with garnets, an amethyst in the shape of a flower set in gold and surrounded by diamonds and amethysts or ammonites with discs of white, yellow and rose gold.

The exhibition offers a discovery of unusual stones like watermelon tourmalines, phantom quartz, dendritic agate or azurite malachite. Jean Vendome whose real name was Ohan Tuhdarian, created his first jewelry collection in 1950 and he worked up until his death in 2017. His style was and remains personal, pioneering, unique and trend bucking.
©The Gourmet Gazette

The World of Jean Vendome: A Gourmet Gazette Slide Show

Jean Vendome Exhibition through August 28th
By reservation only
31 rue Danielle Casanova
75001 Paris, France
+33 (0)1 70 70 3840
http://www.lecolevancleefarpels.com/fr/en