Inside the Jewel Vault with Vivienne Becker

 

INSIDE THE JEWEL VAULT WITH VIVIENNE BECKER

Welcome Inside the Jewel Vault!  In this episode I ask the jewellery experts’ expert, Vivienne Becker, to select pieces from her life and career and put them inside her fantasy Jewel Vault, ultimately choosing that one special treasure to keep safe forever.  

 

Vivienne is a world authority on jewellery history and design, as well as a leading author and journalist, and she’s encountered a vast array of jewels and designers throughout her 40 year career.  She is my personal jewellery hero – when I embarked on my jewellery career over 30 years ago, it was her book that guided me, and I still avidly look to her to learn from – so I was quite star struck to have a conversation with her.  I wondered what pieces someone of her status and discernment would choose?   

 

Just as I had hoped, thanks to her superb eye for talent, trend and outstanding design, Vivienne’s fantasy vault is a sumptuous treat of virtuoso jewels. Vivienne also knows anyone who is anyone and it’s fascinating to listen to her describe the warm and supportive friendships she enjoys with the creators and owners of the pieces.  Vivienne offers so much to learn and wonder at in her selection, but for me, the magic of this podcast is in Vivienne’s final choice - heartwarming, inspiring and meaningful.

 

Guest Bio:  Since working for an antiques jewellery dealer as a teenager, Vivienne was hooked as much by the personalities of the trade as the jewels themselves.  She became a journalist specialising in jewellery and wrote her first book in 1980, “Antique and Twentieth Century Jewellery”, which is held as the standard work on the topic and has been reprinted many times.  She has written 15 other volumes including one with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and contributed to many more.   Her print and online articles on everyone from Laurence Graff to Rene Lalique are commissioned by the top titles of the world’s press.  For 4 decades, Vivienne has curated exhibitions, judged awards and lectured, mentored young designers, guided connoisseurs, and educated the lay reader.  http://www.viviennebecker.com

 

I want to hear from you!  What special treasures would you put into your fantasy jewel vault, and why?  Every so often I’ll compile your stories into a podcast of their own.  To get in touch with me and also to access show notes and images, go to: https://vipjewelvault.com/podcast

Produced by Lizzie Wingham. Engineered by Asa Bennett.

 

Links to items: 

JAR brooch 2002 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/458814

 

 

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

JC

I am delighted to welcome VB to the Jewel Vault.  An authority on jewellery history and design, a leading journalist and jewellery historian, Vivienne has encountered an incredible array of jewels and designers in her 40 year career in jewellery.  Since working for an antiques jewellery dealer as a teenager, Vivienne was hooked as much by the personalities of the trade as the jewels themselves.  She became a journalist specialising in jewellery and wrote her first book in 1980, Antique and Twentieth Century Jewellery which is held as the standard work on the topic.  Since then she has written 15 other volumes including one with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and contributed to many more.   Her articles on everyone from Laurence Graff to Rene Lalique are commissioned by the top titles of the world’s press.  For 4 decades, Vivienne has curated exhibitions, judged awards and lectured, earning a global reputation as the experts’ expert, a discerning arbiter of talent, trends and outstanding design. 

Welcome Vivienne I can’t wait to see what you’ve chosen for us inside your Jewel vault!

 
VB

Thank you thank you very much

JC

Well you really are the authority I turn to time and time again, & have done right from the beginning of my career when I was 18.  You have devoted your whole life to jewellery haven’t you – who or what has inspired this long career?

 

VB

Well first of all thank you thanks very much for all the compliments and I have to say that I’ve been learning for all those 40 years and as much as I’ve learnt there is so much more to learn and I think that’s what keeps me going and that’s what inspires me day today and I feel extremely lucky that the job that I do involve studying and learning every single day in terms of who inspires me well if I go right back to the beginning of course  -

 

I started by working in the antique jewellery trade when I was young when I was about 18 and I took a holiday job and of course that was my first inspiration and I got really hooked on jewellery history I am I stayed there I actually have rebelled against my teachers and my family I didn’t go to university really I just stumbled on such a Almost a subculture which I’m sure you’ll understand Jessica of antique jewellery dealers who welcomed me with open arms into the fold and I loved it so much that I stayed for nearly 3 years and that’s really what inspired me and still inspires me every day

 

JC

Wow

 

VB

and after that I did manage to get a job as a fashion assistant on a women’s magazine through a friend and that was my start in journalism is quite interesting that am I always wanted to be a journalist or a writer at that time and it was the National magazine company at Hurst and at the photocopier machine one day I saw a man with headed notepaper photocopying headed notepaper and it was headed up antique collector and a very shyly I said oh are used to work in an Antiques market can I write a can article for you? and he said yes and I thought oh my God this is easy how to get into journalism but I did find out the next day that the poor man had been made editor of the newly acquired magazine called antique collector and that meant that’s why he was photocopying the notepaper and he would’ve said yes to anyone who had offered him an article because he suddenly had to fill a magazine with articles

 

JC

wow

 

VB

yeah it was a bit of lucky timing that’s the law of asking I think it’s called that that was my first start and then I eventually joined his staff an antique collector and then started freelancing better but I just carried on writing about antique jewellery and then and more recently contemporary but always with a historical perspective

 

JC

well do tell us about this first beautiful piece that you put into your jewel vault

VB

I’ve started with something really spectacular I think the dragonfly female corsage ornament that is by my all time hero Rene Lalique and it’s the in the collection of the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon and and for me is perhaps the most staggering piece of art jewellery that has been yet created.  As I mentioned through collectors and through my studies I came across Art Nouveau jewellery that was made for a very brief time, very short but intense time of creativity, from 1890 to 1910 and I was lucky enough to meet a collector in the States who opened up his collection for me and together we realised there was no book on Art Nouveau jewellery so I embarked on that study. It took me a long time, several years and after that I was invited by the Goldsmiths’ Company to create an exhibition of Rene Lalique, and obviously Lalique was the leader of Art Nouveau jewellery. I was young it was an incredible commission I was very very fortunate, and as the exhibition we were very fortunate to work with the Gulbenkian Foundation. I don’t know if you knew who he was - he was a great oil magnate he was known as Mr 5% he was a great collector from around that time around 1900, and he spotted Lalique’s talent and he commissioned from him a series of 150 extraordinary art jewels, which are now in the Gulbenkian Museum. And the centrepiece is the dragonfly woman corsage ornament.  It has the most immense presence it is truly breathtaking, but I think these were perceived as pure works of art and I guess it was the kind of commission that every artist dreams of, you know, money no object, no limitations on creativity or imagination, with the result that the Gulbenkian collection is extraordinary vision of the artistry of jewels, I think, definitely the greatest art jewels that exist at the moment

 

JC

you’ve written over 15 titles under your own name and then contributed to many many more and you’ve covered such an astonishing topics and so many incredible personalities, which of them was your favourite do you think?

 

VB

well they’re all fascinating in their own way.  I was lucky enough privileged enough to be invited to collaborate with Secretary of State Madeline Albright on a book about her brooches.  I remember the phone call very well when my daughter was very young I was feeding her fishfingers at supper time, teatime, I picked up the phone and someone said I’m Madeline Albright’s Chief of Staff - as you do - and they asked if I would be interested in collaborating with Secretary Albright on a book about her brooches, and so that was the start of an amazing adventure

 

JC

Wow

 

VB

and it was completely fascinating for me yup.

 

JC

Such an incredible personality isn’t she?

 

VB

she’s a true inspiration on every level and I went to meet her you can imagine how nervous I was when she was in London just to see if we would get on. I was incredibly nervous and she had an incredibly beautiful brooch on and afterwards she said she was nervous in case I didn’t like her brooch enough, so yeah it was wonderful. I spent some time in Washington with her going through the collection and listening to all her incredible stories, how fascinating they were and she’s a wonderful woman, she has an extraordinary ability to move from being very serious, very profound as I’m sure she know she’s just supremely articulate when she comes to international relations I mean she can switch in an instant to be mischievous witty funny with a wicked sense of humour so it was really really great great fun and a true privilege

 

JC

yeah it must’ve been yeah and so you’ve also written about all sorts of people from new talents like Michelle Ong as well, How did you find working, how did you find… she has a dreamscape all her jewels are astonishingly imaginative

 

VB

she has a great great talent and I’m glad to say as well she’s also a great friend we were introduced by Joel Rosenthal of JAR the great JAR who I have to say it was also thanks to Joel that Secretary Albright invited me to work with her so Joel has been an amazing mentor of mine

 

JC 

So Vivienne you’ve started us off with a spectacular jewel, please tell us about piece number two in your Jewel Vault.  This is an amazing piece by the designer you were just talking about, the enigmatic JAR?

 

VB

yeah I guess everyone knows that Joel Rosenthal, whose initials make up the name JAR, who’s just about one of the most famous jewellers on the planet but not only that, he is a true genius and in terms of jewellery history I can safely say that he changed the course of contemporary jewellery history when he started in the 1980s and 90s he came up with an entirely new vision for jewellery design that was layered with historical and cultural references that was rich and emotive at a time when jewellery was in the 80s was all about well it was just a linear surface stylism. I always say that jewellery at that time wasn’t about anything but Joel started telling stories through the jewellery - he is an artist and he single-handedly transformed the jewel into a work of art again as Lalique had done in his time - so every so often our World throws up a genius like this.

 

JC

so tell us about the piece

 

VB

yes well I think it is interesting because it tells another story, it joins two parts of my work because it’s an Indian inspired Jewel, and it’s one of the masterpieces in the Al Thani collection of Indian jewelled arts. So this piece has got a double meaning for me because I was invited to catalogue the contemporary pieces in the Al Thani collection, and this is one of them, and it’s a brooch, of Indian inspiration the architectural silhouette in the form of a Indian arched window, a cusped arch, so beautifully curvaceous and what’s so incredible about it In terms of the technique and the storytelling, is that the front of it is composed of slices of very pure rock crystal over white agate and at the centre is an octagonal emerald, an antique emerald,

and the back of the brooch is a kind of gold open work to represent an open screen the jali of the Indian hareem and I don’t know I think it’s the combination of the theme and the technique that is really so breathtaking, I think it just, as only Joel can do, really captures the flavour, the Romance the whole emotional and sensory impact of India and its culture

 

JC

yeah and inviting you to keep looking and look again I love that such a wonderful piece

VB

yeah the technique is incredible and JAR has done this - he pushes his artisans to absolute perfection and when he has an idea in his head he continues and continues until he brings that to fruition, until he finds the craftsman who can make his dreams come true

  JC

So exacting yes.  Well, your third piece in the jewel vault is by jeweller Daniel Brush, who is just as much a perfectionist but he works each piece by hand himself.  Please tell us about the jewel you’ve chosen and a bit more about Daniel - he’s an artist jeweller you’ve written a book about too isn’t he? 

VB

The book on Daniel Brush is one of my most recent book, I have to say it felt like although I haven’t finished my career yet felt like the culmination of my career of everything I’ve worked on up until that point. Daniel well how do you describe him you know he is the ultimate Renaissance man he is a fascinating, he’s a towering intellect and an extraordinary craftsman but he’s more than that he’s a poet and philosopher his ideas about jewellery have inspired me, he’s helped me to look at jewellery in different ways, he’s pushed me to reconsider my preconceptions and I absolutely treasure all the time I spent with him.

 

so I’ve included in my jewellery box one of his carved steel poppy brooches. I think part of his philosophy is to challenge perceptions of preciousness of value and how you question what you value what what actually makes them valuable and he has spent many years exploring steel, gosh there is so much to say about Daniel,

I think of it as his quest for enlightenment and he created this series of ravishingly beautiful poetic cut carved and engraved steel and diamond set poppies, and I love the idea of transformation in jewellery which again - that first Lalique corsage ornament, which is all about metamorphosis - and Daniel certainly manages to transform a hard tough industrial intransigent material - steel - into something light and limpid and soft and sensual like the poppy. I just think that element of metamorphosis is really part of the story of the jewel.  He hand carves everything, the word designer is anathema to him, he’s just an artist he will pick up a piece of metal and work straight into it, just follows wherever his hand and heart and eyes take him.   

The other important note to make is that he sets his jewels with antique Indian emeralds – diamonds, I mean diamonds - they have a very very soft and secretive sheen to them and Daniel has also come up with an ingenious way of wearing a brooch, by attaching a magnet to it so that there is no pin and it doesn’t you know ruin your clothes

JC

so we’ve got one of his pieces, one of his poppies in your fantasy Jewel vault and I can see a bit of a brooch theme developing here because you’ve also got another brooch – it’s the fourth one in your Jewel Vault.  It’s a very exquisite piece by Boucheron is that right?

 VB

Oh Yes yes

JC

Tell us what this is so special about this jewel, perhaps you could tell us what it is, and what it looks like

 VB

yep so this for me is the quintessential art deco jewel and and I guess the reason I love brooches or corsage ornaments is that they allow so much freedom they allow total freedom of expression by the artist and designer you don’t have the usual limitations of a ring or a necklace, size can be anything, and this corsage ornament was made in 1925 by Boucheron and it was shown at the Esposition Universale in Paris 1925 - that was later to give Art Deco its name, it wasn’t called Art Deco at the time, these were just Modern jewels, and this is a very dramatic hard stone mosaic. It was designed by Lucien Hirtz and mounted by a company called Bisson. So the hard stones have been beautifully carved and again it’s that mix of fluidity but control so it’s really a pure composition of form & colour and line and texture and for me I just think it is the most sensational of Art Deco jewels.

I mean it was an explosion of colour that was one of the defining features of Art Deco jewellery and this came from the impact of the Ballet Russe which opened in Paris in 1909 I think, Scheherazade, and I love to imagine the audience at that first performance of Scheherazade in Paris, would have been –the women would’ve been dressed in Belle Epoque costume, very refined very pale very proper lady-like tightly laced into their corsets and then on stage in front of them,  I often try and imagine what it must have been like was this vision of Vibrant colour and sensuality and stylisation and I think it’s you know impossible to overestimate the impact of the Ballet Russe on all of decorative design and I think you can see the impact of this in this wonderful jewel by Boucheron,

JC

Another piece that you have in your fantasy jewel vault which I am longing to hear about is a piece from one of the greatest icons of the 20th century, Marlene Dietrich, so you’ve chosen a piece that she owned is that right?

VB

yes yes that’s right yes it was made for her it was commissioned from Van Cleef & Arpels in 1937 and again for me this is one of the seminal pieces of this style it’s called Retro Modern I tend to call it Cocktail - the style of the late 30s, the style that emerged exactly in the year 1937 with another exhibition in Paris and then followed by the World’s Fair in New York in 1939, but it emerged out of the ashes of Art Deco and it was much more curvaceous much more three-dimensional but still very stylised.  It’s a sensational design, but I also chose this because it’s very important to me to say and to share how jewellery is such a powerful expression of femininity, of individuality, of individual style, and also I just love the way in which jewellery has charted changes, or the evolution of femininity or female ideals through the late 19th and 20th century and I think that at this time really from the 1930s onwards straight certainly right through  the mid-century jewellery became as I say the most powerful expression of individuality and I think that’s characteristic of 20th century design in general, the whole cult of individuality in terms of the wearer, but also the maker

JC

And this isn’t another brooch this time, is it, it’s a massive bracelet

  

VB

No it’s a bangle, it’s a huge cuff bangle with rubies and diamonds and I think it really reflects her style like taut tailored glamour as you know she wore she wore very masculine clothes she had a very very definite point of view, very well defined style and I think this totally captures that style and her character, and so it’s got dynamic swirls of rubies but the outline is very crisp and strong very powerful piece of jewellery

VB

she wore it often on screen, notably in Hitchcock’s Stage Fright as lots of the Hollywood stars did that they wore their own jewellery in the film so right it’s very much in her style it’s a perfect fusion of Van Cleef & Arpels style and her individuality and I think it just oozes Marlene Dietrich.

 

JC

If you had it to wear, where would you wear it?

 

VB

it’s definitely evening wear, it’s not daytime wear - I would wear it for cocktails, dinners, although I have to say it’s the perfect Zoom jewel!

 

JC

Yes I was just going to say it would cause a great visual impact!

 

VB

yeah yeah it’s very photogenic and it’s just totally associated with her style, her strength, that kind of tailored look that tailored femininity.  This bangle this jarretiere is a very very stylised version of a bangle a buckle bangle - is a very chic 1930s version.  it’s also a source of great regret to me that our stars don’t commission don’t wear jewellery in the same way it’s a great pity.

 

JC

yeah there seems to be a gulf.  So we’ve looked at five fabulous pieces there is another very intriguing piece in here they look incredibly ancient and completely different, the polar end of the jarretiere bracelet that you’ve just told us about they’re a pair of earrings.  Tell us more about these

VB

yes I just had to have something ancient it in my jewel box, and these Hellenistic gold earrings  incredibly intricate and I do feel that ancient jewellery like this is the template for, well, for Modernism in a way, when you look at earrings like this there’s nothing better I think that perfection in terms of the craftsmanship the power that they have the sheer beauty and yeah going back to inspiration of course ancient gold work is a, has been an inspiration through the millennia obviously to me and my writing to the jewellers of the 19th century and the Archaeological Revival period as these ancient treasures were unearthed the late 18th century and throughout the 19 century jewellers were absolutely captivated enthralled by the power and the presence of these ancient jewels and they have always set about trying to recapture or reproduce the goldwork, the granulation, the ancient Etruscan technique of attaching tiny gold granules to gold surfaces which is very very complex and has puzzled Goldsmiths for hundreds and hundreds of years - and so I think that these are possibly the best pair of Hellenistic gold earrings from about the fourth century BC that exist in the world today and they’re like earrings that were Discovered in a burial mound that is now in Russia on the Black Sea called the Great Libnistza there was a Greek settlement of Goldsmiths in the third and fourth century BC and I think two reasons that I love these: one is that they tell the story of the Goldsmiths of antiquity and this is a subject that is particularly important to me, because I think that Goldsmiths were revered at that time.  Here is the spiritual aspect of jewellery ancient Goldsmiths were almost like priests, they were believed to have almost direct line through their work to to the Divine, a channel to the gods and I love that idea that there is this otherworldly spiritual aspect to goldsmithing. 

And the other important point about these earrings is that they’re in the collection of the Albion Art Collection in Japan which is probably the most important private collection of historic jewels in the world put together by Kazumi Arikawa who has become a really great friend and a mentor in recent years.  He has an incredible eye, and he shares my belief in the spirituality the importance of jewels, beyond being adornment you know that all jewels really have this kind of talismanic origin to them

 

JC

So this amazing collection of jewellery in Tokyo is it solely ancient work or does he also collect modern

 

VB

no it’s from ancient up until probably the 1930s and just the very very finest pieces from each era and each style through history, and I’ve been lucky enough to spend a little bit of time in Tokyo with Mr Arakawa, being treated to one of his very very special presentations and lectures on the history of jewellery.

JC

So his collection really does trace this reverence for an enduring quality something goes beyond the material worth of each piece?

 

VB

yes absolutely exactly yeah

 

VB

I know Mr Arakawa his dream is to create a jewellery museum in Japan and hopefully that will happen in the foreseeable future and we can all go and marvel And see this world-class collection

 

JC

Among the many things you’ve done one of your great talents seems to be to bring people together through exhibitions and notably a new major one Gem Geneve – so please tell us about this show.

 

VB

Gem Geneve is a new trade show for trade and private collectors, that was started by two very well-known, well respected dealers - antique jewellery dealers and gemstone merchants in Geneva, and they invited me to curate a contemporary designer showcase as part of their mission to show the whole richness of the world, so from antique jewellery right up to contemporary pieces that we hope will become the antiques or the heirlooms of the future and yep that was a wonderful opportunity, and again it gave me a reason for it to scour the world and look for individual designer jewellers, artist jewellers and I looked I still do I look for jewellers that have a very strong point of view, a very well defined style, something new, nothing derivative, hopefully something that will keep our jewellery world moving forward, upon this path of a continuum of thousands of years of jewellery history and it was very exciting, very rewarding because the designer showcase - we now call it the Designer Vivarium, was very well received, we found that visitors and collectors: they love to discover new talent, but they also love the opportunity to support the designers, to listen to them explain their creative vision, and no, I think it was definitely an initiative that I’m going to continue

 

JC

oh good because so much of what you do is telling us, your readers, about amazing talent and incredible people that you found and come across and it’s just so inspirational that there is so much talent out there and that’s what’s exciting that it seems to be an expanding universe and you’re right on the button of it

 

VB

luckily yeah I try, I have good antennae switched on all the time for people for new talent and it’s good for me cos I test my own taste all the time when I look at something new I’ve got a filter of various criteria that I apply and again all of that all the criteria are formed by an historical perspective - I think that’s absolutely invaluable, you have to know what’s been in the past to understand what is truly new, and I think I find that the best & most inspiring of contemporary design always has that mix of kind of reverence for the past reverence for the rules and then the audacity to break them and I guess if I could pin point one thing I look for, is that

 

JC

Well Vivienne you’ve got a fabulous fantasy vault for us, you really have thank you, and of course normally the Jewel Vault contains 6 special pieces from the careers of my guests, but you have actually chosen 7 pieces to put inside your Vault, so who am I to quibble with an expert of your standing…!  I just feel we should have asked you for double the amount it’s just fascinating hearing you talk about them.  So this seventh a personal piece isn’t it, something very close to you I believe?

 

VB

 it is

 

JC

and I wondered if you could let us hear it?

 

Sound:

Jingle jingle

VB

Can you hear?

JC

yes isn’t that wonderful

VB

I’ve just slipped it on.  It’s a charm bracelet that belonged to my late aunt, a very dear aunt. I was particularly close to her she was my mother’s sister, younger sister, and yeah the noise I find so evocative because it would always announce her arrival into the room or into the house, and I was always so excited to see her, and she was the one in the family who absolutely adored clothes and jewellery and make up – I was always in awe of the way she looked, and this charm bracelet was always so much part of her and it expresses the intimacy of the jewel, how intimate it is with its relationship to the body and also to our persona, to our character, and when she passed away she left me the charm bracelet, which of course I treasure, it’s not at all valuable it’s got some antique seals on it, quite a few but I think they’re not gold, they’re what we used to call gold- filled, and it’s got some modern things on it, but it’s just the memories that it holds for me and the association and the sound.  It’s very very typical of the 1950s and yeah so much a part of her and her persona. I just remember all her beautiful clothes and how they were all lined up in her wardrobe, how she wore the bracelet on her beautifully manicured hands, with her very long painted fingernails.  Yeah it’s deeply evocative and deeply emotive for me, yeah as I said particularly love the sound.

 

JC

Yeah so she is the epitome of femininity as you grew up as a child?

 

VB

yes yes yeah

JC

a lot of us have a figure like that

VB

yeah I was absolutely riveted by all of it and    very very close to her.

JC

wow well thank you so much for sharing the seven pieces now you know the rule of the vault this is where I’m going to make you feel a little uncomfortable! - Is is that you have to just pick one to keep safe forever

VB

oh yes

JC

out of all of the pieces

VB

oh God, oh dear

JC

in your fantasy vault if you could have one and only one piece, which is yours?

VB

Oh dear, I suppose, well it would have to be the charm bracelet, humble as it is, with it’s tourist tatty souvenirs, mixed up with the antiques seals, yes I guess it would have to be that that because in the end, jewellery is about creating and preserving personal memories

JC

Well that’s wonderful. Ah Vivienne thank you so much for sharing your fantasy jewel vault with us and taking us inside your Jewel vault It’s just been such a magical journey thank you

VB

thank you thank you so much for the opportunity it’s been really really wonderful I’ve enjoyed it

JC

Well thank you very much for sharing your life and work in jewellery through these seven very beautiful objects

VB

thank you, Jessica, thank you

ENDS

I’ve just slipped it on.  It’s a charm bracelet that belonged to my late aunt, a very dear aunt. I was particularly close to her she was my mother’s sister, younger sister, and yeah the noise I find so evocative because it would always announce her arrival into the room or into the house, and I was always so excited to see her, and she was the one in the family who absolutely adored clothes and jewellery and make up – I was always in awe of the way she looked, and this charm bracelet was always so much part of her and it expresses the intimacy of the jewel, how intimate it is with its relationship to the body and also to our persona, to our character, and when she passed away she left me the charm bracelet, which of course I treasure, it’s not at all valuable it’s got some antique seals on it, quite a few but I think they’re not gold, they’re what we used to call gold- filled, and it’s got some modern things on it, but it’s just the memories that it holds for me and the association and the sound.  It’s very very typical of the 1950s and yeah so much a part of her and her persona. I just remember all her beautiful clothes and how they were all lined up in her wardrobe, how she wore the bracelet on her beautifully manicured hands, with her very long painted fingernails.  Yeah it’s deeply evocative and deeply emotive for me, yeah as I said particularly love the sound.

 

JC

Yeah so she is the epitome of femininity as you grew up as a child?

 

VB

yes yes yeah

JC

a lot of us have a figure like that

VB

yeah I was absolutely riveted by all of it and    very very close to her.

JC

wow well thank you so much for sharing the seven pieces now you know the rule of the vault this is where I’m going to make you feel a little uncomfortable! - Is is that you have to just pick one to keep safe forever

VB

oh yes

JC

out of all of the pieces

VB

oh God, oh dear

JC

in your fantasy vault if you could have one and only one piece, which is yours?

VB

Oh dear, I suppose, well it would have to be the charm bracelet, humble as it is, with it’s tourist tatty souvenirs, mixed up with the antiques seals, yes I guess it would have to be that that because in the end, jewellery is about creating and preserving personal memories

JC

Well that’s wonderful. Ah Vivienne thank you so much for sharing your fantasy jewel vault with us and taking us inside your Jewel vault It’s just been such a magical journey thank you

VB

thank you thank you so much for the opportunity it’s been really really wonderful I’ve enjoyed it

JC

Well thank you very much for sharing your life and work in jewellery through these seven very beautiful objects

VB

thank you, Jessica, thank you

ENDS