Marie-Claire Lallemand-Méheut uses nobles materials to fashion her jewels.

Each necklace, each bracelet, each pair of earrings is a unique and harmonius composition which combines original form with various materials and color.

An unusual way of fastening or tying the necklaces, which does not resort to any metal clasps, allows you to choose how you wish to wear them.

It's in Ivory Coast, where between 1987 and 1990 she resides with her husband, which is born her passion for the pearls. She attends the local markets assiduously and travels from village to village in the bush in search of authentic pearls and decorative bronze elements, manufactured with "cire perdue" by african craftsmen. It's during this stay that she creates her first necklaces.

In 1990, she leaves Africa for Asia and settles in Dhaka, the Capital of Bangladesh. A new country, new pearls, but also new inspirations which enrich her creations. When she returns in France, in 1993, she continues to travel in search of exceptional pearls. 

Marie-claire Lallemand-Méheut was referred at Agnes B and her jewels were exhibited several years in two wellknown department stores in Paris. 

Now she presents her creations at privates sales, art and crafts exhibitions and occasionally at cultural events in France and abroad.

She recently took part in exhibitions on french craftsmanship in Montenegro, in Switzerland, as well as in New York (USA) and Riga (Latvia), where they were placed under the aegis of the French Embassy.

Since 2004, she has been creating neolithic style jewels for the gift shop in Carnac, a megalitihic site which is under the protection of the French National Museum.

Marie-Claire Lallemand-Méheut also proposes personalized jewels and can repair or stylize your old necklaces.

Contact : mcmeheut@numericable.fr 
Tél       :  06 16 90 90 91


 

Herringbones pearls or Rosetta

They were most likely manufactured between 1490 and 1500 by Venitian or Alexandria glassmakers. They were barter pearls used for trading with Africa, but their circulation remained limited to the notables.

Theses pearls are of great value due to the complexity of their manufacture. They are all composed of twelve herringbones which refer to a symbolic figure system of the Islamic and African cultures.

  
Décorative elements made of "cire perdue"

Manufacture begins by modelling from a wax sculpture which is then encased in a refractory mould called "the banko", composed of clay, fine sand and fine particles of organic elements.

A crucible filled with bronze pieces is deposited on a bed of embers until the complete fusion of the metal which occurs within approximately an hour and a half at a temperature of 1000° C. 

The molten metal is quickly poured through the pre-set casting cone and settles in place of the wax, which melts and is recovered in a calabash filled with water. The wax to bronze transformation is completed.

After the metal has hardened and cooled off, the mould is broken to extract the object, which undergoes extensive finishing. 


 
 


Mosaic glass pearls ou Millefiori

As of the beginning of the 12th Century, the Republic of Venice became the Capital of glassmaking. It then had many advantages over its competitors which were Bohemia, Egypt and Holland.

In 1490, the authorities obliged the glassmakers to leave Venice for the Island of Murano, to protect the city from the fire hazards attached to their activity.

The craftsmen were strongly influenced by complex glass objects dating from Egyptian and Roman antiquity. Then, they reinvented the process of drawing hollow canes of glass which allowed the series production of pearls of various size.

Drawing consists in fixing a hollow sphere of glass in fusion on two metal plates with pegs. Two men, each one holding of the pegs, move in opposite directions to strech out the glass. The initial bubble of air while lengthening causes an opening over the entire length of the tube, which is then fragmented into rods and then into pearls. The pearls finally undergo thermal treatments or grinding.

Nowadays, glassmakers in Murano use the same manufacturing methods as they did centuries ago and their methods still remain secret. We only know that producing a millefiori pearl requires the completion of 15 separate manufacturing stages.