The Story
A two hundred-year-old family Maison
It all started 200 years ago, when Pierre-Paul Vever founded the Maison in Metz, Eastern part of France and created his first outstanding piece of jewellery. In 1872, his son Ernest settles the Maison in Paris in the world-famous rue de la Paix. It will remain there for more than a century, at number 19 then at 14.
In 1881, Ernest handed over the business to his sons, Paul and Henri. Paul is a manager, Henri a designer. An historian, an artist, a painter, a book lover, Henri is, in particular, the author of the key-reference book « La bijouterie française au 19è siècle » (French jewellery in the 19th century). The two brothers will hoist Vever to the firmament.
An Art Nouveau and modern age pioneer
At the 1889 World's Fair, where they are stunningly successful and win their first « Grand Prix », critics praise the exquisite grace of their « jewellery bouquets » and the high-standing making. During the following decade, at the Brussels International Exhibition in 1897, the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900, and the Franco-British Exhibition in London in 1908, the Maison Vever, figure of a new art, is each time awarded the supreme prize : the « Grand Prix » .
Its clientele includes the great personalities of the time, Tzar Alexander III and the Imperial Court of Russia, the Shah of Persia, the Japanese Prime Minister, Togugawa Iesato, the President of the French Republic, Sadi Carnot, demi-monde queens, including the Belle Otero, and wealthy American industrialists.
Innovation has always been in the DNA of the House, which was a pioneer of the Art Nouveau movement. All curves and asymmetry, this stylistic and revolutionary current at the time put art, innovative creativity and outstanding arts & crafts at the core of jewellery for a new aestheticism. It praised Woman, Flora and Fauna. It featured unexpected materials like horn, ivory, enamel, and hard stones.
Photo: Sylvia Pendant, 1900. Vever. Decorative Arts Museum, Paris.Camille and Damien
"In order for nothing to change, everything had to change ».
In 2021, Camille and Damien Vever, the 7th generation of the family, are reawakening the House, which has been dormant since 1982, with the ambition of reinventing its value proposition and adapting it to 21st century environmental and societal challenges.
In 2021, the ethical and sustainable commitment
100 years after Art Nouveau, Maison Vever is once more shaking up the world of jewellery by proposing a new approach to its trade: a new, sustainable and responsible luxury, an ode to nature and human genius.
It is the first mission-oriented company (« Entreprise à mission ») in the jewellery and luxury sectors. In other words, and as stipulated in its statutes under the PACTE law, it thinks of its activity in terms of respect for Man and the environment. The ivory it will use is of vegetable origin. Gold is recycled and diamonds are not extracted from mines.
Vever has also made it its mission to promote French know-how by having its collections produced exclusively in France by talented artisans with unparalleled craftmanship.
Customers are welcomed, by appointment, in the luminous salons of 9, rue de la Paix. No unnecessary stock. The models are tailor-made to order within 3 weeks for most of them.
