In 1965, Jean Dinh Van opened his atelier in Paris to make a new kind of jewelry — transforming mundane objects such as locks, keys and razor blades into adornments. It was a revolutionary approach and today nearly every major jewelry brand offers collections that include at least a couple of recognizable everyday items rendered as sleek, gem-free creations.
For the 60th anniversary of the Dinh Van brand, the house is retelling the story in “Dinh Van, 60 Years of Freedom and Creation,” an exhibition of about 90 items scheduled at Christie’s Paris from Sept. 3-13.
“Dinh Van’s sculptural designs helped to establish a new era of modern jewelry that broke from tradition and was based on and transmitted the spirit of the times,” Violaine d’Astorg, the head of jewelry at Christie’s France, wrote in an email. “His work resonated with a generation seeking freedom, both in design and in life. Hence the exhibition title.”
Also, Editions Flammarion is publishing “Dinh Van: Jewelry Sculptor” by the jewelry historian Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter this fall.
“We wanted to tell the story of this visionary, who saw that the world was changing and wanted to create something that reflected those changes,” said Astrid de Montlivault, the managing director at Dinh Van. “It was 1965, the same year a new law in France finally allowed women to open a bank account in their own name, so we are celebrating this, too.
“And while other jewelers were focused on nature and animals, Mr. Dinh Van made jewelry women could buy for themselves and wear every day, pieces with geometric forms and stripped-back design, which, actually, men could wear, too.”
As part of the anniversary observance this fall, the brand is reissuing the 1975 design Serrure (Lock) as a flat yellow-gold bracelet with a clasp featuring a princess-cut diamond (7,990 euros, or $8,390 in the United States).
It also plans to present a new take on the 1968 cube ring Le Pavé (the Cobblestone), now reimagined as a stickpin, a pendant and two bracelet styles, one entirely in metal, the other in black cord (starting at €480).
“We’ll be offering them not only in gold but also in silver,” said François Laporte, the brand’s vice president. “It’s a way to stay true to Mr. Dinh Van’s vision of creating jewelry for everyone, which also means pieces that suit every budget.”
Mr. Dinh Van, who graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and then spent 10 years at Cartier, created two of his best-known designs in 1967 to complement fashion collections.
The first was the Deux Perles ring, a square ring framing two cultured pearls, one white and one gray, created for Pierre Cardin. And the second was the Double ring, two rings in gold or silver that were connected by a thin chain and were meant to be worn on the same finger, designed for Paco Rabanne (and now another anniversary reissue item).
That same year, Mr. Dinh Van began selling his jewelry at the Publicis Drugstore on the Champs-Élysées, a forerunner of today’s concept stores.
“He had a somewhat iconoclastic way of thinking about jewelry,” said Vanessa Cron, the jewelry historian who curated the Christie’s exhibition, “both in terms of his creativity, the type of jewelry he made, and also where he would sell it.”
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