ow not to fall for Estelle Lagarde? Her vermilion-red smile, eyes that speak volumes about her dreams, her disarming frankness, her singular creations. The thirty-year-old, who began her career painting gouaches for prestigious houses, now creates jewellery of her own. Jewellery that reflects who she is or, more exactly, the journey she has made, the rough with the smooth. For the simple reason that jewellery became her lifeline.

As a student at Lycée Professionnel Amblard, a technical college in Valence, in eastern France, she learned gouache painting, technical drawing, moulding, casting and wax carving. Aged 18, she moved to Paris where she joined the Van Cleef & Arpels design studio as a gouache painter.

Tired of travelling back and forth between Paris and the family home in Haute-Savoie, she quit after eighteen months and found a new job at a workshop in Meyrin, Switzerland, as a dial enameller. “I painted the same dial for four years, I may as well have been on a production line. It was soul-destroying. I was a victim of harassment, too. Ultimately it all became too much and I suffered a burnout. I was off work for two years, during which time I decided to start painting again and set up in business as a gouache artist, freelancing for watch and jewellery brands.”

Hope ring in white gold, diamonds, amethysts, prasiolites, peridots and colour-changing glass cabochons. ©Mélanie Garofalo

Rebuilding herself thanks to painting

Estelle Lagarde was 24 when she launched her company. “I was lucky enough to be sponsored by Lefranc Bourgeois, an art supplies brand. I became one of their ambassadors and, little by little, started painting large formats,” she explains.

The vulnerabilities are still there, occasionally rising to the surface as we chat, but more than anything, Estelle Lagarde possesses the strength of someone who has chosen to pursue her dream, whatever the price. She is convinced that anything is possible, if you believe it is, seeing doors open and seizing opportunities as they arise – beginning with Nadège Totah’s invitation to present her work at GemGenève. The fair’s co-organiser was impressed by the jewellery designs in her sketchbooks and, in 2022, the young artist found herself demonstrating her skills to the show’s audience of collectors and connoisseurs.

Estelle Lagarde ©Mélanie Garofalo

Somewhere in the universe, a lucky star must be shining down on Estelle Lagarde because, from that moment on, as though to erase previous bad experiences, a kind of virtuous circle began. While at the show, Maurizio Mazzocchi, CEO of the Purnell watch brand, asked her to paint a 1.6-metre high canvas of the official watch for the Ballon d’Or ceremony. She recalls how “I didn’t like painting with oils so I asked Lefranc Bourgeois if they could suggest a different medium and they said Flashe vinyl paint, which mixes with water and is ideal for large formats. I love street art, pop art, graffiti, and wanted to bring that into the painting. Purnell let me create whatever I wanted around the watch, so I bombarded it with colour, like a piece of street art.”

Meanwhile, Thomas Baillod, founder of BA111OD watch brand, commissioned her for the gouache of his first tourbillon, the Veblen Dilemma, as well as for a painting of the Chapitre Delta, a watch that redefines how we read the time, in aid of literacy charity, Lire et Ecrire.

Birth of a brand

Softly at first, then more and more insistent, a little voice reminded her of an idea she had kept tucked away in a corner of her mind, to create her own jewellery brand. Lagarde officially saw daylight in 2023. “I wanted it to be my project and mine alone, hence it took a while to pull it all together,” Estelle Lagarde confided at GemGenève in May. “I met suppliers at fairs and when that wasn’t possible, I’d go to their offices. Eventually I was able to create my first piece, the Nébuleuse Fleurie earrings, which I debuted at the Ballon d’Or ceremony. It was an extraordinary experience. I’ve financed everything myself.”

Along with their mandala-like symmetry, the Nébuleuse Fleurie earrings are unusual in that, rather than a centrestone, Estelle Lagarde has chosen custom-made metallized glass - whose colour shifts depending on the angle of view - and surrounded it with a halo of triangular diamonds. “It’s the same technique as for the mirrors on the Hubble Space Telescope, hence Nébuleuse Fleurie. They came out in October 2023,” says the jeweller-artist.

The Hope ring

More designs followed, such as the Pop Candy ring. The pièce de résistance, however, the symbol of her journey and where she is today, is the Hope ring. She finished it this summer and to say she is proud would be an understatement. “There’s a reason I called it the Hope ring. When I was on sick leave, when I started painting again, I had to begin somewhere, and that somewhere would be this ring. Back then, my greatest hope was that I could go back to making a living from painting and even the hope that I could live the life I now have, with my own brand. When it came to launching Lagarde, there had to be a symbolic piece. This ring is the beginning of all the rest.” It sits inside a hand-lined box in the shape of a precious stone, designed by Estelle Lagarde and made by a workshop in Switzerland.

Nébuleuse Fleurie earrings. ©Lagarde

The Hope ring is crafted from white gold and set with diamonds, amethysts in soft, almost pastel shades, prasiolites and peridots, as well as colour-changing glass cabochons. “I wanted the ring to be precisely as I had imagined it. This meant sourcing stones in the exact dimensions and shades, which took a year and a half. I’m not hiding the fact that it takes an incredible amount of time to create and make jewellery. On the contrary, I want customers to understand the craftsmanship and know-how behind every piece.”