After nearly a decade as an architect, when she worked for legends like Aldo Cibic and Memphis-founder Ettore Sottsass, Nathalie Jean went independent and eventually traded architecture for jewelry. Canadian-born and Milan-based, this mother of one designs jewelry for Christofle, the celebrated French jewelry company, and has been creating her independent line of handmade precious jewelry for 18 years. Her jewelry– minimal, modernist, but intricately crafted– now has its own shop, located in in Milan’s Montenapoleone district, which opened in 2014.
The first time I spotted Mr. Armani, I was working as an architect with Sottsass in his studio on via Borgonuovo where Giorgio Armani had his headquarters. I would see him around– the king of Italian fashion– and it was like seeing a great star walking down the street.
The last time I saw Mr. Armani was on the island of Pantelleria. I was in a rubber dinghy with some friends, all of us a mess– dirty from the sea– and he stepped out of his yacht, the perfect man, perfectly dressed.
Wearing Armani menswear was a new experience. I’ve never worn a suit and I never even wear pants, but the Armani outfit was very fun to try. I shaved my hair off on a bad day not too long ago, but my short hair looks good with a suit.
Jewelry is better than architecture because in architecture, you create your design and then every person on the project makes changes to it. I like my creations to be pure– no one else can touch them!
Architecture is for men in my opinion. You have to be at these construction sites that are 99.9% male and it’s a very hard place to be in command as a woman.
I love crafting something by hand so I switched to making jewelry. In architecture, you only get to design– you never pick up a hammer and start building anything.
The best thing about having your own store is that now I get to interact with the women who like my work. I’m happy to find that it’s a pleasure to meet them and that they’re powerful women– gallery owners, art collectors, women in the top of their field.
I don’t want to be big, ever. I like to make one piece of each design, and never more than five. Perfection makes me happy, and you can’t have perfection when you’re producing a lot of pieces, which you must in order to go big-time. (Editor’s note: Giorgio Armani, master of the meticulous, not included.)
-Laura Rysman
