In her miniMASTERPIECE gallery, Esther de Beaucé presents 17 chains by Jean Grisoni. This is a unique opportunity to acquire one, as in recent years Grisoni has been devoting exclusively his energies to furniture.

By Sandrine Merle.

These unique long chains are formed by irregularly-proportioned links of twisted silver, bronze, rusty iron, driftwood, sometimes studded with silver. Rough, rugged, wild textures are broken up by sparkling gold threads, 1st-century A.D. Phoenician glass beads or string. The rhythm varies because nothing is systematic: Jean Grisoni makes every link by hand, one by one, in his workshop a few miles from Paris. He forges, files, strikes and hammers them himself before linking and enameling them.

The power of chains

“It’s extraordinary how much Jean can express with his interlaced links; he’s never been so prolific,” enthuses gallery owner Esther de Beaucé, who specializes in artist’s jewelry. A thousand details, imperfections and scars create this very personal style. More than ever, he owns this “brutalist poetry”, consisting of the poor and the precious, the oxidized and the polished, and so on. The sophistication of precious stones has disappeared, as has the frank red of coral. “Today, I’m free of all commercial constraints; I no longer seek to please. And when I don’t create to please, well, it pleases infinitely more. I follow through on my ideas, so it’s deeply authentic,” he explains.

Chains in his DNA

It reveals the essence of Grisoni’s DNA, the connections with the Mediterranean landscapes of his childhood. The mineral aridity, the reflections of light on the asperities of the desert. “The chain is my favorite part of Jean’s work,” says Esther de Beaucé. But Jean Grisoni, who was a graphic designer, typographer and art director, no longer wants to define himself by the jewelry he discovered while working on the visual identity of the Monnaie de Paris over 35 years ago. “Jewelry introduced me to metal; it was love at first sight”. Over the last decade, however, he has transposed this vocabulary to furniture, to which he devotes 100% of his time: “Furniture is purchased as a work of art and therefore respected as such, which is not or no longer the case with jewelry.” A statement that Esther de Beaucé and other collectors challenge with their admiration for his work as an artist.

“Les chaînes de Jean Grisoni” until 15 June 2024

Related article:

Esther de Beauce’s miniMASTERPIECE gallery