tep into Mellerio dits Meller’s one and only store, at 9, Rue de la Paix in Paris, and time is erased. Even after recent modernisation work to showcase the new fine jewellery collections, the historic splendour of Place Vendôme’s first ever jeweller’s, opened in 1815, is ingrained in the walls. Drawings of nineteenth-century jewels along with extracts from the house’s extensive archive library, conserved in situ, decorate the entrance hall, giving perspective to one of its more recent collections, Les Muses, imagined by artistic director and, since end 2018, chief executive Laure-Isabelle Mellerio. Any visitor is immediately conscious that they are entering a world whose countless marvels exist beyond time.

Mellerio dits Meller’s more than 400-year history is, in itself, a condensation of the history of jewellery, interwoven with the history of art and that of the modern era. It tells how techniques have evolved, how customs, traditions and fashions have changed; it gives insight into social structure, the rules of trade and a widening world. Turning the pages of Mellerio’s archives is like opening a space-time capsule of incomparable richness.

Laure-Isabellle Mellerio, artistic director since 2015 and CEO since 2018. The 14th generation at the helm of the company.

©Mellerio

Accompanied by Laure-Isabelle Mellerio, we descend into the basement archives room. Here, too, ancient and modern rub shoulders. Nineteenth-century jewellery suites call out to the more recent creations they have inspired, presented in wood-panelled cabinets that date from the time of Napoleon III. The contrast between the subtlety, discretion almost, with which these jewels are displayed and the wealth of history they represent is striking. We are very much at the heart of Mellerio.

When Mellerio opened in 1845 it was the first jeweller on Place Vendôme.

©Mellerio

Europa Star Jewellery: What are some of the key dates in Mellerio’s more than 400-year history?

Laure-Isabelle Mellerio: October 10th, 1613 is, of course, a decisive moment in our history, as this is when Marie de Medici, consort of Henri IV of France, issued a royal decree that authorised the Mellerio family to sell its creations at court. This decree was subsequently renewed by every king of France. But behind this piece of history is another. In 1515 François I annexed the north of Italy, prompting a wave of artisans to leave the region, including the Mellerios who travelled from their native village of Craveggia to Paris, where they settled in a part of the capital known as Les Lombards. Among these artisans were goldsmiths, crafting belt buckles and cut crystal, but also chimney sweeps. Oral tradition tells how a young Italian sweep who was working at the Louvre Palace climbed into the wrong chimney and overheard a plot against the young King Louis XIII. He reported it to the three consuls of the Italian community, one of whom was a Mellerio. The incident came to the attention of Marie de Medici, herself an Italian. In recognition, she granted her compatriots the privilege to trade their goods in France, at a time when the French guilds enjoyed special protection.

The Petit Salon at the entrance to Mellerio’s boutique on Rue de la Paix in Paris.

©Mellerio

How reliable would you say this story is?

Having studied art history, I know that while oral stories are frequently embellished as they are handed down, they are often grounded in truth. A cousin on my husband’s side did some research and found that other families from these valleys of northern Italy had been granted special trading rights. That they were royal informers is always a possibility, but I prefer the first version.

A page from Mellerio’s order books, dating from the 19th century.

©Mellerio

How did the brand develop?

The second major phase began when an important patron introduced Mellerio to Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon I. Henceforth, the house’s reputation spread through the highest spheres of power and it was later appointed official supplier to Queen Maria Amalia. Mellerio would reach the height of its fame in the nineteenth century, which is also when François Mellerio (1795-1843), showing great vision, opened the store on Rue de la Paix. This made us the first jeweller on Place Vendôme, long before it became a world-renowned centre for jewellery. Mellerio was appointed official supplier to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, who was already a customer in Spain.

Detail from the façade of the only Mellerio dits Meller store in the world, in Paris, by Place Vendôme.

©Mellerio

The third and last defining moment is the mistake made by not realising the enormous potential of the United States and therefore not developing this market at the time. Later, in the 1980s, our family firm resisted the wave of buyouts by the big luxury groups. When my husband, Laurent Mellerio, and I took the helm, we were still operating as we were then, without any real marketing or communication, and this was one of the first things we had to review. Six years ago our son, Côme, joined the company, representing the fifteenth generation.

We can imagine such a rich legacy has its share of anecdotes. Is there one in particular that captures Mellerio’s character?

The Mellerio spirit is perfectly captured in the Mellerio coat of arms. The eagle at the top stands for the determination to reach great heights; the mountains in the centre represent Monte Rosa, our Italian origins, and the medlar shrub at the base symbolises this simple yet hardy fruit that will weather even the harshest conditions. Indeed, resilience is one of the family’s greatest strengths, as demonstrated during the French Revolution of 1848. Like Jean-Baptiste Mellerio, his forebear, who would set out a case of his jewels and trinkets in front of the gates of the Palace of Versailles, to draw the attention of Marie-Antoinette in 1780, Jean-François Mellerio did the same outside the palace of Isabella II of Spain, becoming a supplier to the Spanish Court shortly after. Another of the Mellerio family’s strengths is to have established warm relations with the great and powerful of this world. Correspondence that we conserve in our archives is testament to this human side.

The archives, which extend over four centuries, include treasures such as these gouache renderings

©Mellerio

There is often a crucial moment in the history of the most storied family enterprises when one particularly visionary individual sets the company on a new and decisive path. Was this the case for Mellerio?

Well of course there is François Mellerio. He understood before anyone else that Paris was opening on its western side and, going against what was fashionable at the time, opened a shop and an atelier on Rue de la Paix. However, while he showed great acuity at a particular moment, I would say Mellerio’s true visionary trait is to have always had two people at its head, be they father and son, brothers or cousins. One an entrepreneur and the other an artist. No doubt it’s thanks to this distinctive feature of our history that the company’s interests have always prevailed over personal interests, and the business has perdured.

Created in 1862, the remarkably realistic enamel and diamond Lilac brooch is a testament to Mellerio’s talent for nature-inspired jewellery.

©Mellerio

Every jewellery house cultivates its own style. Is there a creative signature that has characterised Mellerio through the centuries?

Mellerio has often stood out for its art of recreating the beauty of nature in stunning detail. An example would be the Lilac brooch made of gold, enamel and diamonds, from 1862. We developed special techniques, with modular systems and flexible stems, to create wonderfully naturalistic pieces. The Peacock Feather brooch, commissioned by Empress Eugénie in 1868, is another fine example, with its supple barbs and detachable “eye” which can be worn as a pendant. It’s also an illustration of the house’s characteristic ovoid shape, which originated with the Beau Sancy diamond, Marie de Medici’s favourite stone, and was patented in 2005 as the Mellerio Cut. The 57 facets – 24 on the crown and 33 on the pavilion – impart incomparable brilliance and lustre. This original shape of an oval inside an ellipse reappears in today’s jewellery collections, such as Mellerio Cut and Aurore, in our fine jewellery, for example Riviera, and our watches. I also incorporated it into the clasps for my Cabinet de Curiosités collection. Colour, something we borrow from our Italian origins, is another of our distinguishing traits. Mellerio is renowned in the world of jewellery for its use of emeralds, rubies and sapphires, and has been for centuries.

Your 400-year history is unique in jewellery and almost unheard-of for a family business. What is the secret of your longevity?

In an industry renowned for excellence, it takes creativity, expertise and innovation to prosper for more than 400 years and these are qualities Mellerio has in abundance, but the real secret is that we have always applied the rule of primogeniture, thereby avoiding “wars of succession”. Because there has always been tacit acceptance of this rule, the transition has never been anything other than smooth. Of course there have been exceptions. My husband, Laurent Mellerio, was the youngest sibling but had always been a director, for his knowledge of finance. When a cousin decided to leave, he was able to buy his shares. This was a rare opportunity in a line of first-borns.

The other secret is that, for most of our history, Mellerio has had a dual leadership, as mentioned earlier, shared by an entrepreneur and a creative, and always giving precedence to the creative. At Mellerio, creation governs marketing, not the reverse, and this has been amplified since my appointment as artistic director in 2015. Coming from outside the Mellerio fold has allowed me even greater freedom.

Soleil and Nuit Etoilée Jumbo Talismans

©Mellerio

You are the fourteenth generation, by marriage, at the head of the family firm. What have you accomplished since your appointment and what is your role today?

I have two roles: chief executive since end 2018 and artistic director since 2015. On arrival, I spent months immersing myself in the archives, soaking up the house’s illustrious history. I was mesmerised. I studied art history at Ecole du Louvre and found myself following the evolution of artistic styles through the prism of one house’s jewellery! For my first collection in 2016, which I named Collection Privée, I took “forgotten” stones from the vault and transformed them into rings, each telling a story. From the very beginning, I was determined to bring this sleeping beauty back to life. There was so much to do. We had to restructure and redefine the collections, which took almost three years.

In 2017 we introduced the Iles Borromées, Isola Madre collection, inspired by the landscapes of our Italian homeland. Isola Madre is one of the Borromean Islands on Lake Maggiore, famed for its stunning gardens where species not usually found in the region thrive, thanks to the island’s microclimate: giant magnolias, forests of rhododendrons, azaleas, bougainvillea, ginkgo, camphor trees, water lilies, palm trees and yellow iris. All these shapes and colours found their way into the Isola Madre collection, as well as the Isola Bella and Isola del Pescatore collections that followed, in 2018 and 2019 respectively. These collections were a nod to our past, as the Borromeos were loyal customers whose names appear in our archives for the nineteenth century.

High jewellery collection, Jardin de Pierreries necklace

©Mellerio

I really wanted to put colour back at the heart of the house’s jewellery and the Color Queen collection from 2020 is further illustration of this, with its coloured centrestones framed by a braid of gold, atop a multitude of diamonds, tourmalines, sapphires, garnets or spinels. These rings express the world of Mellerio in a palette of festive, natural shades of red, orange, blue and green. Les Muses, our next collection in 2021, took inspiration from seventeenth-, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century motifs; those of Marie de Medici and Marie-Antoinette; the vanilla cactus, for example, was one of the latter’s favourite blooms. The idea is always to celebrate our heritage in ways that are relevant today. I start with a design or a technique or a legendary client and bring them into the present. All our collections have a profound significance and our customers seem to appreciate this.

Another of my objectives is to introduce Mellerio to a younger audience who identify with this desire to make meaningful connections. The success of our Cabinet de Curiosités collection that launched in 2023, with its medallions and charms, is proof. It represents a quarter of our revenue, which is more than haute joaillerie or bespoke, at 21% and 13% respectively. I set out to relaunch Mellerio with festive, colourful, easy-to-wear jewellery and this is bearing fruit. Revenue has more than doubled since 2018 and we are attracting a new clientele.

The Peacock brooch, made in 1868 for Empress Eugénie, is another example of Mellerio’s talent for representing nature. The removable central element exhibits the iconic Mellerio Cut.

©Mellerio

The sleeping beauty has stirred from her slumber. What are your objectives in the medium term?

Mellerio has always been a pioneer, in many different ways. We were first to use platinum and first to introduce the peacock feather, which is a typically Art Nouveau motif that we were already using in the nineteenth century. We have grown thanks to our curiosity and this is something I try to maintain, observing nature and the world around us. The introduction of smaller pieces of accessible jewellery was something of a revolution for Mellerio, always with that same intention to be contemporary and reach a younger clientele. Reinterpret the past for the present: that’s the challenge. The Riviera collection, which explores the Mellerio Cut, is a perfect example. On a more pragmatic note, we need to develop our US market and continue to introduce younger, easy-to-wear pieces. Across all our markets, customers are seeking expertise and authenticity, for which our archives are an endless source of inspiration. We are indeed awakening.

Even so, Mellerio remains the epitome of discretion. We rarely hear from the house and distribution is highly selective. Do you have plans to change that?

We have our historic store on Rue de la Paix and in recent years we have developed a number of outlets in France and internationally. We’ve updated our image, with more emphasis on fashion, and this has boosted our visibility. We’re working on our social media and our wild posting campaign in December 2023 in Paris, garnered a lot of attention. I feel influencers are losing their lustre and I’m not convinced they are the right approach for us. On the other hand, last year’s debut at Bergdorf Goodman in New York is a good vector for this market. Today as in the past, word-of-mouth is our strongest ally.

Another page of jewellery history from the Mellerio archives, including sketches of pieces from 1901.

©Mellerio

As our conversation draws to a close, Laure-Isabelle Mellerio invites us to visit the private museum and view the antique ledgers whose pages record centuries of orders; a succession of illustrious names in copperplate script, astonishingly precise freehand sketches and detailed gouache renderings. Mellerio’s soul is revealed in the soberly displayed jewels and in the gold-working and gem-setting techniques that bear witness to the house’s inventiveness and expertise. In an industry renowned for excellence, for a company to prosper for more than 400 years, creativity, expertise and innovation are indeed essential qualities, but there are others which are equally important and rarer still: radiant humility and flamboyant discretion. The essence of Mellerio.