It takes courage, and a touch of madness, to put together an exhibition from scratch.
Don't look for the heritage department of the Maison Fred or an army of experienced archivists, Valérie Samuel (artistic director, vice-president and above all heiress of this family business that passed under the LVMH flag) will have achieved the impossible.
“We had nothing, we built up our fund at the same time as we put on this retrospective,” she recalls in her sunny office, where many of her grandfather's mementos are enthroned.
Chance would have it that she put her hand back during a move to a storage room where 10 tons of archives were sleeping.
After having isolated a hundred boxes, here she is transformed into a treasure hunter who patiently traces the trace of the treasures of the past: this is how
it finds in particular the trace of the Golden Sun, this star yellow diamond of 105.54 carats.
At the same time, she placed an ad in the newspapers entitled "Fred is looking for Fred".
The nets are cast, all that remains is to orchestrate the staging of these nuggets and tell the fascinating story of the one who started it all, Fred Samuel.
Fred, designer jeweler since 1936
In images, in pictures
See the slideshow06 photos
See the slideshow06 photos
On 800m², Valérie Samuel, Charles Leung, the CEO of Fred, Vincent Meylan and Vanessa Cron (two historians co-curators of the exhibition) unfold the thread of his life from his life in Argentina to the great years on the French Riviera.
Or twelve immersive rooms staged by Bureau Betak where lovers of the house will find the origins of its classics, the Force 10 or the replica of Pretty Woman's necklace (exhibited alongside Vivian's dress for the occasion).
But the effects of surprise slip in everywhere, in each room, from the little-known timepieces made with the “Picasso of watches”, Gérald Genta, to the cut stones of the house, through collaborations with Catherine Deneuve or Stéphanie de Monaco Hurricane era.
But the real highlight of the show will remain the room dedicated to the links between Fred Samuel and the Nepalese royal family.
On the wall, drawings of high-flying tiaras and tiaras that were imagined for these sovereigns with a tragic destiny, whom Valérie Samuel remembers having met in Kathmandu in 1995 to deliver a one-of-a-kind order.
A look back in time, therefore, necessary to bring back into orbit the sometimes misunderstood heritage of the house in the rue de la Paix, which is also combined with the present time with a room dedicated to the latest collection of brand high jewelry.
Enough to see the figures of the Fred style sublimated by the current generation, and why not, dream by slipping the 3D reproduction of the Force 10 bracelet on the wrist which conceals a few surprises...
Full screen
Fred Samuel in front of the Hotel Negresco, 1930. Fred / Photo press