Written by Paula Grineri - Friday, December 22, 2017
Founder of the
After studying at a business school, I worked in product development at Cartier. I then joined Chaumet where I was entrusted with business development projects, which allowed me to travel around the world in search of partners.
Through my travels to the United States, I discovered in the late 90s, at Barneys, the emerging concept of designer jewelry. It was really the beginning, but I remember being immediately charmed – there was nothing like it in France.
I pursued my career at Dinh Van and thus began to drift towards more contemporary and creative jewelry. Dinh Van was a small firm at the time and, as the General Manager I got to do a little bit of everything. What a wonderful adventure it was to make this elite brand more accessible!
When the adventure ended in 2005, I wanted freedom. I got into consulting before joining Chloé to create the jewelry department, which unfortunately never came to fruition…
I had actually been thinking about it for a while… Since the beginnings of Barneys, whose development I witnessed over the years and through my travels. I found the work of Cathie Waterman, Ileana Makri,
Because my ambition wasn’t to go after department stores, I told myself I was going to build my own little Barneys by myself, hidden on rue du Mont Thabor in Paris.
The first designers I contacted were the ones I fell in love with at Barneys. It wasn’t easy to convince them at first, but eventually Cathie Waterman accepted the collaboration, and others followed. We opened the first store with a
My customers and those around me had been asking me for a while: “what about your own jewelry?”. I actually didn’t feel the need to create because I enjoyed discovering talents. But I had taken on artistic direction projects in the past, at Chaumet and Dinh Van, and I had really loved it.
When observing my customers, I noticed that they were looking for jewelry that was first and foremost easy to wear on a daily basis, with an original touch. I recognized myself in these expectations and I told myself: “well, we’re going to make that kind of jewelry!”.
My first idea was to develop a line of earrings, with technical innovation to meet practical needs. Did you know that we organize regular
Yes. We’ve drawn several designs, a small moon, a small star and 18k gold pieces. Prices start at around 100 euros. We also offer more sophisticated pieces with small gems, such as this little trio of pink sapphire or diamonds. We also offer more classic pieces as a nod to traditional jewelry, with princess cut diamonds or this buckle with a marquise diamond.
For our hoop earrings, we’ve also made sure to use a solid system that won’t get damaged after a few manipulations…
Some collections are made in France and others in Asia. Some Asian countries are particularly good at setting small stones.
Yes, and I made a second collection. I love colored diamonds or sapphires. I like gems a lot in general. Not necessarily “huge rocks”, but rather gems that have a soul, something beautiful, a particular color even if they’re a little dented, not perfect. I bought rows of briolette diamonds to make necklaces that look really great. It’s very pretty, delicate and modern at the same time.
Exactly, it does the job when paired with a black dress and at the same time, you can wear jeans and a t-shirt, and it will dress up your outfit straight away.
We’re presenting a chicer model in white gold with grey briolettes. We’ve imagined a necklace with slightly flat sapphires in various shapes, set. I particularly like this version with small classic cut diamonds that aren’t set, just pierced – it looks like a small diamond rosary.
My relationship with jewelry is certainly special and will surprise you. I don’t grow attached to jewelry. I love jewelry, I love wearing it, but I absolutely don’t feel the need to own it. Maybe because I’ve always been surrounded by jewelry.
I love looking at the pieces, I love selling them, and I know who’s buying them but when they go… when they leave for someone else, I don’t mind.
For this first collection, it will be a little different because it’s a little more than just choosing them…
Firstly, I think of our loyal customers, who regularly come and see our newest pieces, who will be particularly pleased, because they know me personally, to own a piece I’ve created.
Since we know them well, we thought of them when creating those: they like to have pieces they can just wear when they don’t feel inspired. They know that in any case, the piece will hit its mark…
We will carry on spontaneously, as I wish, while remaining attentive to trends and our customers. But whether we’ll stop taking in new designers… certainly not! I have too much fun discovering them!
In the end, it’s easy as ABC! It seems kind of obvious, and yet no one had done it before. Stéphanie Roger has taken all these good ideas to put them in her collections.
Easy-to-wear jewelry that will hit its mark regardless of your outfit: we love it here at LIKE A B.!
You can find WHITE bIRD’s collections and all of Stéphanie Roger’s favorites in the Paris stores as well as on the website:
Mont Thabor store
WHITE bIRD
38, rue du Mont Thabor
75001 Paris
+33 (0)1 58 62 25 86
Monday: 12:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Tuesday to Saturday: 11:30 am – 7:30 pm
Open on Sunday, December 24 from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm
Le Marais store
WHITE bIRD
7, boulevard des Filles du Calvaire
75003 Paris
+33 (0)1 40 24 27 17
Monday: 1:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Tuesday to Saturday: 11:30 am – 7:30 pm
Open on Sunday, December 24 from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm