Spot the Designer - Jessie Bensimon/ France

What did you want to be when you were a child?

Something with astronomy. I loved looking at the stars as a girl with my father who used to name the stars and explain their cycles and positions to my brother and I.

 When have you started creating jewelry? How did this passion come about?

When I was a child, I used to take apart and put back together any jewellery I could get my hands on. They have always been present, objects of fantasies, treasures of tales, playful objects then finally accessible to wear and create.

 What was your first project or significant piece for you and from what point of view? 

This brooch-pendant can also be worn as an earring. An amalgam of silver fragments punctuated by a few gold granulations. It could be the representation of a continent, a landscape, a tear or a boat sails. It allowed me to make the link with improvisation and the randomnes more common in sculpture.

 How do you charge your batteries? What other passions and creative interests do you have?

I recharge my batteries by working with the material and what emerges from it. This leads me down unexpected paths. Observing my environment through photography, music, sculpture, walking and many other media... that allows me to be in the world.

What does the connection between manufacturing tradition and contemporary design mean to you?

The mastery of know-how and its adaptation to contemporary constraints and aesthetics.

Is there a self-portrait piece that speaks most about you? 

There are multiple, and there are several portraits that could represent us. I'd like to focus on the one I've composed for this event. Part offered, part hidden.

 Which material have you not yet used is a temptation and a challenge for you?

There are so many…Ebony for the times to come. 

How was the pandemic period for you as a jewelry designer?

The first confinement where we were truly "recluse", with the exception of 1 or 2 hours when the city where I live, Paris, came to a complete standstill, was a moment of surreal levitation. I could never have imagined enjoying the empty, silent, traffic-free streets of this capital - all this space at rest was a dream ! Contrary to all expectations, it was a very peaceful moment.

 How do you see the future of contemporary jewelry?

Joyful, creative, complex, multi-faceted.

Find more about the designer Jessie Bensimon