The birth of a jewellery brand

Stone Paris has been worn by everyone who’s anyone. From Beyoncé to Cate Blanchett, Rihanna to Penelope Cruz, women flock to the elegant designs of Marie Poniatowski. 

Celebrating freedom and emancipation, Stone Paris is steeped in heritage and connections, passed down from mothers to daughters through time.

Started with “3.500 euros at the time” and celebrating 20 years next year, Marie feels “lucky to have succeeded in creating this brand without family money”.

Marie Poniatowski did not start her career in jewellery. First working on movie sets, she made the move to jewellery at 32 years old.

She explains: “I started as an assistant director in the film industry, from the age of 19 to 32. I loved my career, it’s taught me to be rigorous, how to be a boss and lead teams, and a great work ethic. On set, you don’t work 8 hours. It could be closer to 16. It has massively helped me. But I have always loved jewellery, vintage jewellery especially.

“When I realised I wanted a more stable career, work for myself and also keep a certain amount of freedom, I turned to jewellery. And I realised there weren’t many jewellery designers in France at the time. You had Place Vendome, but you didn’t have “fine” jewellery designers.”

Finding a gap in the market, Marie set about to fill it.

“I make fine jewellery, not high jewellery. I wanted to create jewellery you could wear on the tube in the morning and keep on until evening and dinner at a nice restaurant. I wanted to make second skin jewellery, beautiful pieces you feel you’ve always had. So I started designing, and thought, ok, let’s try.

“I commissioned a tiny workshop that made me a couple of pairs of earrings, because at first, I only thought earrings, since I wanted to rework “dormeuses” - sleepers – earrings. That was my start. When Colette [Parisian concept store, now defunct] sold two or three of my pieces, I would go and make another one.” 

Marie’s love of earring may have come from her childhood. With a love of antique jewellery and a strong sense of connection to the past and heritage, Marie remembers one earring from her childhood.

“My dad had one sleeper from his mum, my grandmother I never knew – I think the other earring had been lost – and so sleepers are one of the first earrings I made, for her. And that’s why I have always been attracted to jewellery, because of this idea of passing things on from one generation to the other.”

Speaking to Marie about the start of her jewellery adventure, she recalls getting her first “serious, quality” workshop onboard. And while many jewellers will remember their first workshop, few got a yes thanks to their pregnancy.

“I started my brand when I was pregnant with my daughter, and I went to see a workshop, but I was already eight and a half months pregnant, and I was huge too, a lot of weight.

“When I got in front of the workshop’s owner, he initially said he wasn’t interested, he was doing Chanel and I was such a small fish to him. And while I’m trying to argue my case I start choking, I couldn’t breathe, I think he thought I was going to give birth right there in his office. So he said yes.

“I wanted to work with a quality workshop, because quality is so important to me, but I needed help and someone who would go on this adventure with me. So that’s how I started.

“I worked with him for a long time, but I moved to somewhere where I was a bigger fish, because it’s easier when you’re dealing with orders. But he was a great guy, and of course, I have more than one workshop because you always need to have more than one, in case something happens.”

With almost 20 years’ worth of collections and a resolutely irreverent approach to jewellery, we asked Marie to pick a couple of jewellery pieces she believes represent Stone.

“I believe there are a couple of pieces that can represent Stone. I’m not a religious person, but I am quite spiritual. I do a lot of crosses. Crosses weren’t Christian to start with, they represent man and woman, it’s a symbol. There are so many different crosses, and it has fascinated me, and amused me too.

“The Blood diamond cross is inspired by the Middle Ages, and I wanted to denounce blood diamonds. It’s a spiky cross, and that was a choice. It’s our best of, customers love it.

“When it comes to rings, the Sarah, which I named after my sister, is a big piece, inspired by a Victorian brooch. I made the Tess for my daughter. And funnily enough, in these two collections, there are only one ring. These are my two favourite rings, and they are also extremely sentimental. I wear them all the rime, alternating between the two.”

Marie has used names from her family throughout her jewellery: “I’ve given names to some of my pieces, the names of people who are really close to me”, but it started with her brand name.

“The name was from my husband. His name is Pierre: so Stone. And Stone on its own, I couldn’t copyright, because there are so many Stone already. So Paris, yes, this is where I was born, this is my city.”