Her brand-new micro boutique is a showcase for Frédérique Mattei’s oversized necklaces: assemblages of components gathered from all over the world.

“I don’t design, I don’t programme anything: the way I create my necklaces is more like automatic writing,” she says.

Every century and culture

Whenever she travels or meets new people, she has always accumulated pieces, including a plethora of beads from Bohemia, Central Asia, Iran and first-century Rome. Her drawers and boxes also contain spherical chandelier shades in 19thcentury Daum crystal or 1950s silk thread (created for a Jacques Fath fashion show), while a component for a pair of earrings from southern Tamil Nadu mingles happily with branches of coral, Tibetan brass plaques and turquoises.

The Seventies influence

Her necklaces are decidedly imbued with a 1970s feel: the spirit of Saint Laurent, the jewelry designed by Loulou de la Falaise and the Talitha Getty look. “I love that period and the style of clothes my mother wore – double-breasted jackets, trousers tucked into boots. I’ve always dressed like that, “ she says.

Necklaces as go-betweens

With zoomorphic beads, ancient items, crystal rings and more, each necklace creates a dialogue between cultures and periods arising from a natural affinity that is never forced. If they already contain a hole or a ring, she can put pieces together. “I never alter their physical integrity,” she says. For, as an admirer of Edgar Morin, Frédérique Mattei never sees a component without its context and associations.

Frédérique Mattei 27 rue de Varenne – 75007 Paris