Marie-Hélène de Taillac

Marie-Hélène de Taillac has always been fond of colors. And semi-precious gems are her favorites. From rose quartz, to aquamarine or green topaz, the French designer finds all of her treasures in India from which she takes most of her inspiration.

Born in Tripoli, Lybia, Marie-Hélène de Taillac comes from a cosmopolitan family. Thanks to her father who was then representative of the French Oil Company for the Persian Gulf, she spent quite some time in Lebanon before moving to France in 1975, just after the war broke. The French designer first studied gemology before working in Fashion with the great modeler Philip Treacy. While visiting India, Marie-Hélène de Taillac discovered the work of Jaipur craftsmen specialized in stones and reconnected then with her passion for jewels, as a direct memory coming back from childhood.

Switching her career from fashion to jewelry design, Marie-Hélène de Taillac launched her first jewelry collection in 1996 and quickly became renowned throughout the world for her work with semi-precious gems. Her international recognition led the French designer to open shops in Paris, Tokyo or New York, easily recognizable by her signature red and blue colors, as an imprint to her DNA.

As a big fan of colored stones, all of her collections are easily recognizable with the array of rainbow-like gem set, pairing facetted briolettes to cushion cut sapphires or pears in a close-set. Throughout her collections, Marie-Hélène de Taillac revisits the world of fine jewelry and experiments with unusual combinations of multi-colored tourmalines and new ways of cutting them. In her works the « briolette » cut is easily spotted thanks to its shape, letting the gem floating and reflecting light in different way… a drop with multi-facets.

Today, the globetrotter jeweler splits her time between Jaipur, overseeing the creations and the development of her collections in France, her home country. All her jewelry is made by hand by Indian artisans in the art of the local know-how. And Marie-Hélène takes her inspiration from the gems themselves. Each piece is specifically designed to show off the color and beauty of the stones.

From bold color necklaces to luxurious cascades of stones to curve your ear or simply adorn your sleek fingers… intrinsically chic and delicate, her creations translate the essence of the designer’s style. Introduced in Paris during the Spring Fashion week, Marie-Hélène de Taillac pulled off a multi-color necklace paved with dozens of carats of faceted briolette sapphires almost like a choker made of lace to be delicately sawn onto your skin.