Jean Vendome (Lyon 1930-2017 Eaubonne), Collier 'Améthyste flower', circa 1970,18k yellow gold, amethyst crystals, amethyst. Unique piece. Maker's mark. GALERIE MARTEL-GREINER at BRAFA 2021.

Exhibitions: Arts and Crafts exhibition, Museums of Decorative Arts at the Louvre, Paris, 1980-81 and in Cologne in 1981-82.

Literature: Exhibition catalog of Arts and Crafts, Museums of Decorative Arts at the Louvre, Paris, 1980; Sophie Lefèvre, Jean Vendome, Artist-jeweler, Somogy, Museum of Lyon, 1999; Marlène Crégut-Ledué, Jean Vendome, The precious journeys of a creator, Editions Faton, 2008.

Jean Vendome (Lyon 1930-2017 Eaubonne), Necklace 'Boréale', 1955, 18K white gold. Unique piece. Signed 'Jean Vendome'. GALERIE MARTEL-GREINER at BRAFA 2021.

Literature: Marlène Crégut-Ledué, Jean Vendome the precious journeys of a creator, Faton editions, 2008 ('Boréale' series referenced pp. 34-35).

Jean Vendome (Lyon 1930-2017 Eaubonne), Butterfly-shaped pendant-brooch, circa 1970. Yellow gold and lapis lazuli, aquamarine cabochon. Unique piece. Photo credit: Louis Decamps

In the 1960s, the creations of the jeweler Jean Vendome brought about a real revival: he was one of the first to apply the aesthetic principles of abstraction to the art of jewelry.

When he started, in the 1950s, the style of jewelry was the opposite, decorative and figurative. Jean Vendome is in search of a new path, a language in correlation with the way of life of his time. However, jewelry is still frozen in secular codes, classicism is required.

In this context, deliberately going off the beaten track was an option that was all the more difficult because everything had to be invented. Starting with the design of the jewel. Jean Vendôme no longer considers it an outward sign of wealth but sees in it an object in harmony with modern life, fashion, music, painting. He sees it as a work of art, a miniature sculpture that can be worn and gives it a specific expressive value. He is developing his research on several fronts: the renewal of forms, the integration of new materials, and work on transformative pieces, allowing elements of a necklace or bracelet to be worn as a ring or brooch.
Plastic research leads to radical changes in the appearance of parts. Jean Vendome begins by removing the traditional frame in favor of an abstract pattern, where the stones are arranged in an irregular grid. The break with symmetry and regular ordering is a real novelty, which gives the stones a particular relief, and makes the setting a decoration in itself.

He strives to renew and enrich the repertoire of jewelry materials, with native or nugget gold, uncut crystals, mica plates.
Participating in numerous exhibitions and professional, national and international events, he contributes to making known and recognized the new forms of the jewel. Revolutionary at the time, but in fact in phase with his century, they will never go out of fashion: many of them have become part of the repertoire of current jewelry (the asymmetry, the use of originals, the frame melted as a decoration, the use of the circle, the rhombus, the spiral, the triangle, among others).