Great designers to rediscover: the French master Pierre Sterlé ♦
Time ago, Hancocks, the London company specializing in the sale of rare jewels, was in the Tefaf in Maastricht with 88 pieces, including a special necklace: the Pierre Sterlé diamond Ribbon, a jewel made in 1960. The choice is also a recognition for the French jeweler. The necklace, 62.9 carats, has a stylized arch motif, with the ends more thin and diamond baguette cut. Son of a banking family, Pierre Sterlé was born in 1905.
As a boy he lived with an uncle, a jeweler in Paris: so he also was initiated to the craft and debuted in 1934 with his own creation. He worked for Boucheron, Chaumet and Ostertag. The writer Colette loved the work of Sterle and was one of its first customers. During World War it moved to larger premises, in Avenue de l’Opera, near Place Vendome. He also worked for the way of fashion, Dior, Balenciaga or Jean Desses. Pierre Sterlé has earned an international reputation and clientele: from Indian maharajas to the King of Egypt, Farouk, who ordered him a ring for his wife, the Queen Narriman.
Pierre Sterlé’s style is easily recognizable: it is characterized by inspiring themes, artistic treatment and technical mastery. The recurring motifs in his work derive from nature: birds, wings, feathers, animals and various types of flowers. His themes feature asymmetry and a Baroque type of extravagance, contrasting with opulent geometric shapes and arabesques seen in traditional jewelry of the era.
His reputation was cemented when he won the De Beers Diamond Award, a major achievement in the profession of jewelry, which has won for three consecutive years, in 1953, 1954 and 1955. But not everything went the right way: by Sterlé jewelry has expanded to perfumes, Huit-Huit and 2 Diam, which have been an economic disaster. Despite this, his career continued as a jeweler, but always with little luck since financing point of view (although the family had made a fortune with finance). So in 1976 he had to liquidate the company, and all the material was purchased by Chaumet. It disappeared in 1978, but her jewelry continue to be more popular than ever.
