Charlotte Dauphin never quite felt at home in her showroom on the Place Vendôme, generally considered the heart of the global haute jewelry scene. So, she decided to create one that suited her better.
“I wanted something more unique, away from the Place Vendôme and closer to my heart,” said Ms. Dauphin, a 37-year-old jewelry designer who also is an artist, writer, filmmaker, producer, and former classical and modern dancer. “Since I do all kinds of different things, I wanted to imagine something that would be an extension of my vision. I needed to create the right space for the work.”
Although she did not have to look far, patience proved key.
In January, her jewelry brand, Dauphin, will celebrate its 10th anniversary, and its first presentation in five years, by showing a mix of high and fine jewelry. And the venue will be the 19th-century Hôtel de la Rochefoucauld, named after her husband’s family — as its six-year gut renovation is finally coming to an end.
Now renamed Maison Dauphin, the building stands on Rue de Marignan in the Eighth Arrondissement, within what is called Paris’s Golden Triangle, bordered by the Champs-Élysées, Avenue Montaigne and Avenue George V.
Marignan has long been a residential street favored by discreet aristocrats, politicians and the occasional artist, such as Mary Cassatt. But it is best known for luxury boutiques, including Alaïa, Dauphin’s next-door neighbor, and, across the street, Oscar de la Renta.
Mr. de la Renta, an uncle of Ms. Dauphin’s by marriage, supported her work until his death in 2014. “He encouraged me, saying, ‘Be the designer of your own life.’ I’ve meditated on that a lot,” she said.
Unused for decades, the mansion’s checkerboard marble foyer, soaring spaces, timeworn parquet and outdated wallpaper served as the set for Ms. Dauphin’s first feature-length film, “L’Autre” (“The Other”) in 2019. But even before shooting began, and though they were living in London at the time, the designer and her husband, Charles-Henri de la Rochefoucauld, decided it was time to do something with the place.
“He keeps me grounded, and he let me run with it,” Ms. Dauphin said. “His only comment was ‘Either this is going to be a shipwreck or it’s going to be great — there’s no in-between.’”
The renovation originated with the French architect Jean Nouvel and was directed by Hala Wardé, the Paris architect who has been his longtime collaborator, with creative input from Ms. Dauphin, who is a painter and sculptor, holds a master’s degree in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London and studied filmmaking at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
“It’s a very unusual project,” Ms. Wardé said. “Charlotte brought to it her sensibility with materials and light, and a dialogue with her work on a larger scale.
“It’s a place steeped in history that can also project into a future of many possibilities. You could shoot five different films there without knowing it was the same place.”
For Mr. Nouvel and Ms. Wardé, the project was their first joint effort at creating a residential space that occasionally would be open to the public. For Ms. Dauphin, the process became a metaphor for her own life story: what to keep, what to leave behind, how to embrace change and what to reveal (or not). She even made a short film about the process, called “Architecte,” that touches on those themes.
“The whole conversation was about trying to find the right balance, like a jump in time from the 19th century to something very contemporary, and how there could be a very singular creative juxtaposition,” Ms. Dauphin said. For instance, the house’s elaborate woodwork, kitchen fittings and original stables were preserved, and a dramatic double helix staircase of sheet metal and concrete materialized in a grand salon.
The design studio, offices, showroom, art gallery and a performance area now occupy about half of the building’s almost 10,765-square-foot area while the other half is the couple’s private space. In spirit, Ms. Dauphin said, the combination is akin to the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa in the Marais district. (Until his death in 2017, the designer’s habit of working as he wished has been an inspiration, she said, and his label is among her favorites.)
Ms. Dauphin’s paintings and sculptures, along with those by other artists, are being placed throughout the space. A black-and-white-striped mirrored mural by the French artist Daniel Buren is a permanent centerpiece that runs from the courtyard into the house itself.
That piece, Ms. Dauphin said, was a contemporary way of bringing her own family history into the house’s narrative. Her beloved paternal grandfather, Jacques Dauphin, used the work of artists to pioneer modern billboard advertising in France. “I think that’s why my world is so hybrid,” the designer said. “There’s the industrial inspiration, and architecture, but also that creative, artistic approach. As a child, it was the images within the architecture that shaped my imagination.”
Her jewelry line, introduced in 2014, has been one creative iteration. Based on spare, graphic lines, caged forms and sculptural latticework, it quickly gained traction at stores such as Barneys New York and Dover Street Market in London and New York, and pieces are owned by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman. An open ring with stars resting on either side of the finger from her first collection was acquired by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris for its permanent collection.
With her latest creations, the designer said she wanted to explore different proportions and move beyond gold and diamonds by incorporating materials such as crystal and marble, partly in a nod to the renovation and also as she had not used them before. For her fine jewelry, she has taken inspiration from robotics, and has been experimenting with lacquer and layering.
But more than precious objects, the designer said she looks at her jewelry philosophically, as a direct throughline in a family history marked by success, her father’s untimely death and, most recently, her own successful battle with breast cancer.
She has begun filming her second movie, a thriller set in the South of France tentatively named “Wild Rocks,” and is a co-producer of several films by women, among them “Eleanor the Great,” Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, which is scheduled to be introduced at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2025.
Like life imitating art, bringing Maison Dauphin to fruition resembled making a film, she said, its contours defined by “endurance, patience and constant adjustments.”
Now that the renovation is almost done, Ms. Dauphin has been preparing for a new — and more visible — chapter. “I think this place is going to help me focus my creativity,” she said. “Dauphin is meant to evolve. Now that I have my own space, I can take flight.”
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