Launched in Paris in 2005, Messika is a young diamond brand backed by age-old expertise, conceived by innovative jewelry designer Valérie Messika, daughter of renowned diamond dealer André Messika. From its first collection, this dynamic brand has made waves in the world of fine jewelry.
Valérie Messika has been a creative force in forging a new language for diamond jewelry, one of the first to push its boundaries toward a younger, edgy look, with a touch of tribal, punk, and ethnic influences. The jewels that take shape in the designer’s imagination and in the skilled hands of her artisans are exuberant and revolutionary yet underpinned with a reverence for her diamond legacy and driven by her profound passion for the gem.
Delicate yet strong, confident, and feminine, Messika designs possess volume and movement, sensual fluidity, and ergonomic comfort, blending couture and urban street style, high tech and handcraft, with the exquisite nobility of the diamond, for an attitude of casual glamour and a look of modern luxury. Celebrating its tenth anniversary, Messika has evolved toward a new level of finesse, featuring even more exceptional and ravishing diamonds in its one-of-a-kind creations.
Jewelry historian Vivienne Becker is an award-winning journalist and author of several books on the history of jewelry design. Based in London, Becker is a contributing editor to Financial Times’s How to Spend It magazine, writes for newspapers and magazines around the world, and lectures and broadcasts on her subject. She organized and wrote the catalog for the first major exhibition of the jewelry of René Lalique, and curated Jewels of Fantasy, a traveling exhibition of twentieth-century costume jewelry. Becker’s previous books for Assouline include De Beers Jewellery (2011), The Impossible Collection of Jewelry (2012), and Sevan Biçakçi (2014).
Messika is available for purchase at ASSOULINE boutiques worldwide and through www.assouline.com
Text by Vivienne Becker | 6 x 8½ in. – 15.5 x 21 cm | 80 pages | 45 illustrations | hardcover with jacket | ISBN: 9781614285274 | Approx. AED 100 | also available in French
