Charlotte Chesnais

A timeless jewelry designer, Charlotte Chesnais makes ingenious pieces that flirt with both jewelry and sculpture. Charlotte Chesnais created her first piece of jewelry whilst working alongside Nicolas Ghesquière as a fashion designer for Balenciaga, where she designed a multi-cuff that played with proportion and was conceived to be stacked. Midway between a jewelry classic and an inspired reworking, the bangle carried the seed of the Charlotte Chesnais brand: continuous, clean lines, an understanding of the body and a confident singularity. Nearly six years after that first step, she set up her own house in 2015.

Country: France
Brand business card: New classic and unusual sculpture shapes

Brand designer

Charlotte Chesnais

« I don’t just design jewelry. My pieces are not merely earrings, rings, bracelets or necklaces, I want to create beautiful objects, with lines that are fluid, dynamic, sharp and disciplined. Unexpected. The jewelry is a pretext, I could just as well be making chairs, tables or forks. As a medium, it provides extra support for my ongoing research into form and use. I like twisting, melting, shaping and constraining. I like to set the jewelry-object against the contours of the body in the same way that I like to create pieces that are always calculated to be on the edge of the classical, the well-balanced, the sculptural. It’s the way in which I rebel against understood order to constitute a family of my own archetypes over time. They are objects which are just as beautiful worn on the body as they are set aside. »

Jewelry production

Creative process

« Each piece of jewelry is based on a model handcrafted in the Parisian workshop we have been working with since the beginning. I need this close relationship with these impressive craftsmen, the only ones able to bring to life my hastily drawn sketches. We work together to find these shapes, we twist, weld and hammer them. It’s all about the discussion between us. It is my favourite part of my creative process. The brand would not exist without them. »

French manufacturing

« The main challenge is producing an idea several times over, even though each piece requires such a long and meticulous process to reach the right design and balance. Each piece of jewelry is made in the best French workshops and are then checked one by one in our Parisian offices. »

How to take care of your Jewelry

We advise clients to follow the below guidelines to preserve their jewellery’s shine and prolong its life: – Remove your jewellery before washing your hands, showering or getting into bed. – Avoid contact with creams, perfumes and hydro alcoholic gel. – Store jewellery in a well-ventilated place. – Polish your jewellery regularly with the soft cloth provided with your jewel, to keep its shine and prevent oxidation.