A French jewellery house founded in 1890, most famous for its bold creations of the 1930’s and 40’s. While the firm was named for its founder, René Boivin, it was Boivin’s wife and her entourage of female designers who produced its most famous creations.
When Boivin died during World War I, his wife Jeanne took over the business. Over the next two decades, Jeanne hired a series of female designers including Suzanne Belperron, who worked at Boivin from 1921 until 1931; Juliette Moutard, who designed for the firm from 1931 until the mid-seventies; and her daughter Germaine who began designing in 1938.
Boivin's clients included artists, intellectuals, and socialites like Sigmund Freud, Edgar Degas, as well as film stars and royal figures. For this reason, Boivin fancied itself the 'jeweller of the intelligentsia'. The firm presented its work at select exhibitions, including the 1937 World Fair in Paris and the 1947 French Institute of Decorative Arts Show. Since it never advertised and refused to occupy a ground floor location with window-displays, the public was rarely exposed to its name or work.
In 1991 the firm was sold to Asprey.
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