With Baselworld 2019 taking place in Basel from 21st to 26th March in just a few days’ time, Valérie Messika has been putting the final touches on the presence of the Messika House at the world tradeshow for Watches and Jewelry. Enjoying some well-deserved downtime, the young founder of the eponymous brand answered our questions. With enthusiasm and sincerity.
How important is the Basel tradeshow for a brand such as Messika?
The yearly event is vital for us. It is a little like a huge world high mass involving all our resellers throughout the world (editor’s note: around 400). This event gives us the opportunity to present our latest collections of diamonds and to manage our meetings with the international press.
Could you tell us about this new High Jewelry collection 2019, about your inspirations?
This year, we wanted to celebrate the American desert. And to do that, we worked with new materials such as wood and feathers, this was something we cared very much about. We also decided to make a slight exception as far as our High Jewelry creations were concerned by disregarding white gold this year to put yellow and pink gold in the spotlight. Furthermore, we also used mixes and contrasts between raw and matt on the one hand, and the brilliant shine of the diamond on the other.
What was the starting point for this new High Jewelry collection?
The premise was being in a less monolithic reading. Therefore the desert represented an ideal source of inspiration from which we can draw the very refined and minimalist aspect that we wanted, in close contact with nature. The desert makes you feel humble: it is a reminder of how small we are when faced with its magnitude, but how we are in harmony with it nonetheless.This oversized dimension fits this new collection perfectly: it is refined and fascinating.
Which jewelry represents the Messika spirit the best this year? A favourite jewel?
I would say that the wooden High Jewelry is the most resonant in my mind. It’s a real evolution for the house, if not a revolution. This new material allows us to add volume to our diamond jewelry, by cutting the wood into a pointy shape. All this together creates a whole other rhythm and gives an extra tone to our jewelry.
Which trends are dominating this year in the Jewelry collections?
Néoporté including stacking. This is very timely because our different diamond jewelry collections work beautifully with one another in complete harmony. Messika clients can accumulate rings, bracelets and necklaces without ever looking overloaded, quite the contrary. Furthermore, there is the rise of mono earrings which is part of the global trend for asymmetrical piercings.
