Jean Schlumberger
Jeweler for Tiffany & Co., French, 1907-1987
Born to a prominent family of textile manufacturers, Schlumberger was sent to Berlin to pursue a banking career, but he gave it up to pursue the arts in Paris in the early 1930s. He saw jewelry design as a means of expression outside ths usual framework of fashion. Combing Parisian flea markets for Venetian glass and Dresden porcelain, he turned them into brooches for his friends. These became so popular he caught the attention of Diana Vreeland, the editor of Vogue. After he moved to New York following Worl War II, he joined Tiffany & Co. in 1956, where he stayed until his retirement in the late 1970s. During his time with the luxury house, he came up with many popular creations, such as his enamel bracelet, which was dubbed the Jackie bracelet because of its popularity with Jacqueline Kennedy.