... Get to know an under-the-radar visionary?
“Said to have been an eccentric and headstrong visionary, Jeanne Toussaint was nicknamed ‘Panthère’.”
Despite having being touted as ‘the Coco Chanel of jewellery’, Belgian designer Jeanne Toussaint is less well known than the creative icon whom she counted as a friend. But Toussaint made up for it with her tag as an ingenue of her time. Part of a talented social crowd that in 1847, Toussaint joined the jewellery house in the early 1920s. In 1925, she was made head of a new department, ‘S’, for silver accessories, and was later appointed artistic director of high jewellery. Said to have been an eccentric and headstrong visionary, Toussaint was nicknamed ‘Panthère’ or ‘Panpan’, in part due to her penchant for the big cat (although her habit of decorating her home with the animal’s skins might not be so acceptable today). Though the animal first adorned a Cartier piece before her time, via diamond and onyx ‘panther spots’ on a watch in 1914, Toussaint gave the panther a new, more sculptural look, and continued to champion the motif in many pieces she created. In 1948, she had a hand in a brooch for the Duchess of Windsor, Wallace Simpson, featuring a panther made from gold, enamel and cabochon emerald, the first 3-D version of the animal, which stirred public demand for the spotted species in jewellery.
