Written by Bérengère Treussard - Sunday, December 11, 2016
As part of the Paris Precious Week, the
The history of the Maison Pery begins in 1875 when Lucien Pery, then glover, decides to diversify and starts creating jewellery. It begins with the realisation of golden chains that he sells to the jewellers of the place Vendôme. Chaumet, Mauboussin, Boucheron and Van Cleef & Arpels provide themselves at his workshop.
Four generations succeed each other in the management of the Maison. Lucien, his son Albert and his grand son Bernard, the father of Brigitte Pery, they all perpetuate the traditions of excellence that made the fame of the jeweller.
In the early 1900s, Albert Pery met with Monsieur Salière, then a costume salesman at a department store named La Belle Jardinière (former Samaritaine), whose clients included the Arpels brothers. The latter, convinced of the talents of the young salesman, offer him to sell jewels for their account, at their store located place Vendôme. Monsieur Saliere introduces Albert Pery to the Arpels brothers a few years later.
According to the archives of the Maison, the collaboration with VCA began in 1925 with a flat knitted bracelet. Albert Pery, who worked with the unavoidable female figures of the time like Jeanne Toussaint or Suzanne Belperon, also worked with Renée Puissant, daughter of the founders Alfred Van Cleef and Esther Arpels.
During the Second World War, Albert Pery was taken prisoner and the workshop was closed for 6 years. His wife Sidonie then decided to hide their gold stock and their customers’ under an apple tree in the garden of the family property nearby Paris, until the end of the conflict. The Arpels brothers, touched by this gesture, decided to give priority to their partnership ever since.
Between Renée Puissant and Albert Pery, the collaboration is strengthened. Madame Puissant went so far as to nickname Albert Pery the “little florist”. Indeed, at the time, he delivered every week new jewels that were called “passe-partout” (in French « all-purpose »). These were unique pieces that could be worn in many ways on every occasion (263 pieces were made by the Pery workshops). In the early 2000s, the VCA House paid tribute to these “passe-partout” with its Hawaii collection.
In the first half of the twentieth century, creation was an integral part of the services provided by master jewellers. The Pery workshops have designed and manufactured many pieces that have become “bestsellers” such as the flexible curved ribbons, “couscous passementri”, the Domino jewelery sets – rigid bracelets strewn with small stones – and of course the Ludo bracelet, an iconic piece for VCA.
The workshop used to produce pieces of fine jewellery but also exceptional orders for the Maharani de Baroda (Sita Devi) as well as the official sword given in 1953 to Marshall June to welcome him as a member of the French Academy and later in 1991, the sword for Mr. Pierre Cardin.
The Pery workshop has also worked extensively for VCA’s Couture collections, including the production of string chains and pompons, copying weaving techniques such as the jersey, and the famous zipper which has become an iconic bestseller of the house.
The Duchess of Windsor had seen a dress worn by Madame Schiaparelli, adorned with a trompe-l’oeil zipper. She turned to the Arpels brothers to create a zipper made of gold. Quite naturally, the latter turned to the Pery workshop to make this system. The workshop was closed during the war and it took several years before the zip was produced in 1951. For the 100 year anniversary of the Maison in the 1990s, VCA decided to revive this collection which has been a success ever since.
The history of the Pery workshop is closely linked to that of VCA and each generation has helped to strengthen the links between the two Maisons. The collaboration with Pierre Arpels, attached to the creation of small pieces, allowed the Pery workshop to enter the era of serial manufacturing. Wishing to open the world of jewellery to the general public with more affordable pieces, Pierre Arpels was at the origin of the first shop opening in 1954. Very demanding, his desire for excellence in the creation and manufacture was a guarantee of success for the Maison VCA and contributed greatly to the good reputation of the Pery workshop.
Claude Arpels perpetuates the commitments of the founders towards the Pery workshop and a few years later, Brigitte Pery even became a close friend in whom Jacques Arpels used to confide…
Bernard Pery, the third manager of the Maison, understood the risks of having a single client and started collaborations with other jewellers, first with Paolo Bulgari for about twenty years, then Boucheron, Mauboussin, Templier and Tiffany. His daughter, Brigitte Pery, pursued this strategy to ensure the development of the family business by establishing collaborations with Graff, Dior, Fabergé, and Mikimoto.
Creator, manufacturer and product manager, to be a jeweller is enthralling, but Brigitte Pery says it herself: it is not always easy to run a family business, you need to manage the affective aspect in addition to meeting the economic constraints. A woman of her word and a strong-willed woman, Brigitte Pery acknowledges to have been very demanding and describes herself as a “diva”. By acting as a conductor, she managed to make the family business thrive and overcome the crises.
In 2008, with help from public funding, Brigitte Pery decided to engage her teams in a major training program in order to promote versatility and modernise production techniques by introducing CAD in the design process.
Attentive to the client’s needs and facing international competition, Brigitte Pery decides to upgrade the Maison towards high jewellery and to gain recognition for its know-how. Thus, 100 years after its founding, the Pery house is declared Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant, a label given by the French State in recognition for traditional or industrial know-how.
In 2011, when Brigitte Pery decided it was time to sell the family company, she naturally presented her project to her historic client, Stanislas de Quercize, currently President of the Richemont Group, who eventually took over the Pery workshops in 2012.
Nicolas Bos, President of VCA, calls her the “Legendary Madame Pery”… you may find her at the