Messika celebrates twenty years of diamonds… with a few colored stones

This contradiction initially left us perplexed. The fact that Valérie Messika was celebrating her company's twentieth anniversary with colored stones when its entire history and success are based on diamonds was a surprise. Add to that, still to celebrate this anniversary, the presentation two months ago of new versions of her best-selling Move books, highlighting the work with gold. It didn't take much more to make us wonder if the artistic director and founder of Messika had grown tired of diamonds... " I can assure you, they remain and will always remain my favorite stone ," she proclaims. "But after twenty years of talking only about my specialty, diamonds, I wanted to take advantage of our anniversary to give myself this freedom. Perhaps it's the effect of maturity! It wasn't easy; I discovered another world, with very different codes and countries of origin." And then I always worked on the stone with the highest refractive index, but with colored stones, this is not always the main criterion. I learned to look differently, to understand the charm of each gem, like the inclusions of an emerald that we call a garden .

A year ago, she pitched the idea to her father, André Messika, who is also her diamond supplier. Immediately captivated, he saw it as an opportunity to embark on a new adventure. Working on the traceability of colored stones, as he had previously done with diamonds, piqued his insatiable entrepreneurial spirit. He partnered with a cutting manufacturer in Thailand and became passionate about this material, new to him, and in which " he believes a lot ," his daughter explains. She, for her part, accustomed to the white and yellow of brilliants, has distilled all the colors of the rainbow into her new high jewelry collection: the red of spinels, the orange of mandarin garnets, the purple of sapphires, the green of tsavorites... "Always in association with diamonds," insists Valérie Messika, sitting opposite the workshop where the pieces are made, within the company's new headquarters on the Champs-Élysées.

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The collection, which boasts generous volumes, with several more rounded pieces (another effect of maturity?), will be partially presented to clients and the press next week at the Hôtel Crillon in Paris, before a show in September during Fashion Week. These days, the workshop's artisans are busy putting the finishing touches to a torque with onyx chevrons, brilliants, and a Cadillac-cut center diamond (whose table forms a right angle); a triple-row Mille Feux necklace studded with green stones and transformable to be worn on as many occasions as possible; toi et moi rings with an orange pear mirroring a white one; last but not least, a choker set with a Zambian emerald.

By creating fresher, less intimidating jewelry, and above all, one designed to be worn every day rather than kept in the safe, I think, modestly, that we have contributed a little to the revival of the sector.

Valerie Messika

While checking the progress of the pieces, Valérie Messika tells us about the decisive stages of the last twenty years. " At first, no one expected me... Since my father is in diamonds, some thought I was just trying to have fun, especially since it was fashionable to get into jewelry. The jewelry world was very different, Cartier and Bulgari were much smaller than today, the Place Vendôme was very elitist and spoke little to young people. By creating jewelry that was fresher, less intimidating, and above all intended to be worn every day rather than left in the vault, I think, modestly, that we have contributed a little to the revival of the sector. "

High jewelry is also a common thread of its rise: 2013 and its first collection presented at the Basel Fair; 2015 and the opening of the in-house workshop; 2018 and the spectacular set worn by Beyoncé in the video for the hit Apeshit, filmed with Jay-Z in the empty Louvre; 2021 and the first fashion show dedicated to the collection, co-designed with Kate Moss… These unique pieces, whose sales have quadrupled over the last three years, now represent 15% of the turnover estimated at 210 million euros in 2024. The company, which has 400 employees worldwide, must adapt to growth, “while keeping its soul,” explains its founder, who still works with the pillars of the beginnings, such as her cousin, her husband, her best friend, “joined by very important people in the system such as the production manager.”

And to conclude: " While luxury is slowing down, I am convinced that jewelry has a bright future ahead of it. Jewelry is becoming more and more desirable, its value is reassuring and does not decrease, unlike that of a bag or a luxury accessory. I am optimistic, even if being a "young" house is not easy every day compared to the giants next to us, with their large investments. But I can see that they see us as serious players! " As proof, the forty-year-old Parisian is opening a boutique on Madison Avenue in New York this week.