What Is Gripoix?

PARIS — In 1869, Augustine Gripoix, a Paris glass worker skilled in the making of reproduction pearls, developed a sophisticated technique for setting and enameling colored, cast glass in intricate metal mountings.

“Pâte de verre,” or glass paste, is formed when molten glass is poured into a mold, rather than through the kiln-firing of a paste of ground glass and binding agents. Pâte de verre has long leant itself to the creation of jewelry pieces in a wide range of shapes and colors, with princesses and aristocrats requesting replicas of their precious jewels, and commissioning necklaces to match their fur stoles.

Ms. Gripoix set up shop on Rue Tiquetonne, in what was then the jewelry district of the French capital. Her first claim to fame was the creation of stage necklaces for Sarah Bernhardt in the 1890s, followed by costume jewelry for the world’s first couture house, Charles Worth, founded the same year as Gripoix. She later collaborated with Paul Poiret, whose high-society clients commissioned pieces to go with the evening dresses they wore to Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

“It was then that the term ‘costume jewelry’ appeared, setting it apart from imitation jewelry — suddenly, its creative value was recognized,” said Evelyne Possémé, chief curator of the Art Déco and jewelry department at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.