Upcycle Diamond Jewellery

Published on 12/07/11

Rather than buying new earrings to match her new dress and shoes, Rosie and her mother Joanna Goddard worked together to rejuvenate a family heirloom especially for the wedding day.

The heirloom was a white gold Art Deco-style hatpin with a tear-drop shape paddle set with diamonds on either end. The hatpin was designed in the 1920s by jewellery house Lacloche Frères and has remained almost completely unused by Joanna since it came into her possession in the 1970s, handed down to her from her great aunt’s jewellery collection.

Lacloche Frères was founded in 1875 by four brothers – Fernand, Jules, Leopold and Jacques Lacloche – in Madrid and became famous in the 1920s and 1930s for Art Deco jewellery and object d’art, including brightly coloured geometric lacquered and enamelled cigarette and vanity cases set with diamonds and precious stones, and a series of pendants that depicted the fables of French poet La Fontaine.

The house went on to open stores in Madrid, Sébastian, Paris and Barriatz. During the First World War Lacloche Frères bought Fabergé’s London store and remaining stock when the Russian government repatriated the brand’s personnel and assets, and set up shop in its place. Certainly a brand with a rich history, but how wearble is it now?