Jewelry is an attribute of power. It is exclusively feminine. Diamonds are eternal. Sapphires are blue… The École des arts joailliers, which has taken on the clichés surrounding jewellery, stones and their wearers, has published a collective work* breaking down nineteen false assertions. Interview with two of the ten authors, Guillaume Glorieux, Director of Teaching at the École, and Emmanuelle Amiot, Head of Research.

“Discover F, Art de vivre in full

How did this book come about?

Guillaume Glorieux. – The idea came to me during the confinements in 2020 when I was looking for a unifying project for my team, at a time when we were all isolated. I wanted something that would enable us to continue working together. Taking advantage of this time away from the world seemed ideal to reflect on the preconceived ideas surrounding jewelry, because there are so many of them! But not all of them are necessarily totally wrong. It’s more a question of widespread truths that become a kind of cliché, a commonplace, with some truth in them, but also some vagueness, or even error. Our idea was to start from what people know and take them towards more precise, more rigorous knowledge, to elevate them, in the original sense of the word “elevate”.

How did you go about selecting the nineteen preconceived ideas that make up the book?

G. G. – We each thought about things on our own, then shared our ideas and sorted them out. Some overlapped, others were almost identical or less relevant. In the end, we retained nineteen of them, which constitute as many chapters. Then, when it came to writing, there was a lot of back and forth. Everyone reread their own texts, as well as those of others. It’s a collective work, like a jewel! Which, incidentally, is one of the preconceived ideas of the book we’re debunking: “A jewel is the work of a single artist.”

What were the obvious preconceptions?

Emmanuelle Amiot. – The most common one is that jewelry is frivolous. It’s a tenacious prejudice… And then there’s also the fact that jewelry is expensive and precious. I enjoyed writing these two chapters! Firstly, because the first one was a mischievous message to those around me who didn’t really understand that, as an art historian, I was leaving my status as a painting specialist to devote myself to jewelry… So I had to go back to the beginning. The first point, which is very striking and interesting, is that jewelry exists in all societies. In different forms, with different materials, different practices. But it’s always there, and it’s part of every aspect of society, from the intimate sphere to the social, political and religious spheres. And then, in trying to go back as far as possible to the origins, I learned – fascinated! – that archaeologists recently found jewelry in the Bizmoune cave in Morocco, near Essaouira. These little shells date from around 150,000 BC, i.e. over 100,000 years before the first known cave paintings! They therefore represent the first form of art, and perhaps even culture. At a time when we had no articulated language, let alone written language, this visual sign allowed us to recognize ourselves, to display our identity. This is what makes us human, what marks the transition from Neanderthal man to theHomo sapiens. So I think we’re really at the opposite end of the frivolous spectrum!

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The “Jewellery is expensive and precious” chapter also tells us a lot about humanity!

E. A. – So here the challenge was to think about what is meant by “expensive and precious”. Expensive is a financial notion, but it’s also an affective one, because what’s expensive is also what’s cherished. The subject was therefore to study this notion of symbolic value attributed not only to the material, but also to practices, know-how… It’s fascinating, because certain materials which, for us today, are not very much desired and therefore valued, were very much so in the past. Take glass beads, for example. They’re worth nothing today, but they were once extremely expensive and adorned the most precious jewellery in Indonesia, Venice… Like rhinestones, invented by George Frédéric Strass, who was also King Louis XV’s jeweller. The transition from the artisanal to the industrial world in the 19th^e century, was a major turning point in both directions. For example, aluminum, which today has nothing precious about it, was highly prized at the court of Napoleon III.

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So the value of jewelry has always fluctuated?

E. A. – The notion of preciousness is in fact very relative. In the end, it’s not always the rarity of a material that makes it valuable, but its cultural value. Thus, the Arts and Crafts movement at the end of the 19th^e century, the value of design was strongly emphasized. Jewelry became an art object. This idea was taken up by Art Nouveau, but also by designer jewelry. Today, certain fashion pieces, even in non-precious materials, can be worth as much on the secondary market as jewelled ornaments. Today, jewelry no longer has to prove anything to be recognized as a work of art. And the fact that it has been on the margins for so long, because of this fine art classification, has also enabled it in some cases to become a kind of counter-culture.

How did you prioritize the questions?

G. G. – We wanted to follow the path of a jewel. So, first the materials and related stereotypes, with, for example, a chapter on “Pearls are born from a grain of sand”, which is completely false. Then there’s art history, the history of jewelry, its social status (“Jewellery is an attribute of power”, “Jewellery is exclusively feminine”), false beliefs (“Opals bring bad luck”)… We wanted to be multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary. We’re not the first to work on preconceived ideas: Flaubert wrote a dictionary. In it, he talks about all aspects of life in society, but very little about jewelry… Except for the word “ring”, where he writes that wearing one deforms the fingers!

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Your book moves from history to sociology, from science to marketing or philosophy… Why do you think jewelry brings together so many subjects?

G. G. – Quite simply because jewelry is a form of language that has been appropriated by every civilization in every era. It embodies all aspects of a society, from its best to its worst. It speaks of social, economic, political, religious, symbolic, intimate and amorous issues… Jewellery is eminently cultural, which is why it crystallizes preconceived ideas. And that’s why it’s attracting more and more interest. And conventional wisdom itself fluctuates wildly. If we were to look at this book again in twenty years’ time, I’m sure we’d do it differently. There would be other ideas, some of which would no longer be relevant to the book, while others would undeniably appear.

“Idées reçues sur le bijou”, edited by Guillaume Glorieux, published by Le Cavalier Bleu/L’École des arts joailliers, 276 p., €22.

Photographer Maona Micoud / director Belén Casadevall jewelry selection France de Jerphanion photo assistants Benjamin Markowitzc and Louison Boucly styling assistant Emie Dieudegard / model Zelda Adams casting Maria Pablo Feliz / hairstylist Sergio Villafane make-up Kamila Vay / manicurist Leila Rerbal