Innovative Paris jeweler Stephanie Deydier leaves no stone unturned in producing her Asian-inspired collection, writes Kitty Go.

For jewelry aficionados who want to be ahead of the pack, Paris jeweler Stephanie Deydier merits serious consideration. Several major European publications have acknowledged her talent for irreverence bundled with cutesy-chic. Her eye-catching collections are real conversation openers and have been featured in Vogue, Hello, Bazaar, Grazia, Marie Claire, In Style, Point de Vue, Ici Paris, Madame, Robb Report and AD.

Her eponymous brand makes most of its sales through trunk shows and exhibitions but also retails at Garland in Paris and Golconda in Moscow. She has already sold a 100,000 euro ($137,000) bangle privately in Hong Kong - an excellent performance for someone in her late 20s with only two years in business.

Stephanie Deydier's jewelry designs of Japanese dolls and giant pandas show her respect for the Asian heritage she grew up with. Provided to China Daily

Deydier comes from a family of highly respected art dealers and authorities on Asian art and antiquities. Her father Christian is the foremost dealer of Chinese ancient bronzes. Her mother is a Chinese porcelain and terracotta dealer while her paternal grandfather is an authority on Laotian artifacts.

"I don't want to be an antique dealer like my famous family and I am not interested enough," she explains about her foray into jewelry design.

"I love art and grew up with an art family, which is very interesting, but I want to be someone else and make my own name without following my family."

Her strongly Asian-inspired collection honors and pays homage to this heritage.

Her interest in stones has a double trajectory, not altogether complimentary to her family's background.

"When I was a child, I was very interested and drawn to stones because of their shine and color. They are also made naturally and come from the earth - (they're) not man-made, which is a contrast to what I grew up with (art and antiques being man-made)."

Her attraction and commitment to the world of jewelry came swift and sure. After working for three years at the Christie's jewelry department in Paris, she knew jewelry design was her love and enrolled at the French National Institute for Gemology for further studies. Deydier also studied law and art history because she thought they made good foundations for auctioneering.

Her design process begins when colored stones, such as paraibas, tourmalines, aquamarines and tanzanites, catch her eye. Her dream purchase is a blue diamond but right now, it is beyond her means.

Large stones like a 4-carat emerald, made into a Russian-inspired babushka ring with rubies and black diamonds, are particularly inspiring.

So is a 10-carat pear-shaped fluorite highlighted by sapphires and tsavorites in a fan-shaped brooch (uzume). A panda studded with black-and-white diamonds clutching a 14-carat aquamarine (kishimojin) makes a delightful pendant.

Stones are not the only element that rocks her world.

One of the earliest gifts from her father was a wooden Japanese "kokeshi" doll, which has unleashed a flood of creativity, if not memories, for charm and pendant designs using combinations of black and white diamonds, sapphires of varying colors and even a 2-carat paraiba suspended from a doll with open arms wearing a colorful and very detailed kimono. A futomaki pendant is ingeniously fashioned out of black and white diamonds, tsavorites, spinels and yellow sapphires.

Deydier's collection starts at 3,000 euros for a kokeshi pendant highlighted with colored stones to the 100,000 euro panda bangle with black and white diamonds, tsavorites and more than 2,000 green garnets paving the bracelet.

But it is the panda ring collection where she has found her niche, making it her brand's icon product and best-seller. Bold solid yellow or white gold rings go for 12,000 euros while those paved in black and white diamonds cost 26,000 euros.

A slimmer and more popular version in gold with a panda holding onto a finely molded bamboo ring is 6,000 euros. There are also small pins and bangles in solid gold or colored stones.

Contact the writer at sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 12/08/2013 page8)