The Saga Behind One of the Most Anticipated Jewelry Collections of the 21st Century

Landrigan left Sotheby's in 1973 and went on to buy the archives of another 20th-century jewelry master, Fulco di Verdura Landrigan went to the sale of the Duchess of Windsor's jewels in 1987 in search of Verdura pieces, but he came home with a chalcedony Belperron suite instead In 1999 he acquired the name and worldwide rights to Belperron's archive of designs with the dream of relaunching the company, as he had Verdura.

Those finds, along with about 50 new pieces made according to some of Belperron's 9,200 drawings, will be on display when the new Belperron company opens on Fifth Avenue this month-the culmination of almost 20 years of effort Leading the Belperron of the 21st century will be Landrigan's son Nico, who first fell under the designer's spell as an 11-year-old on a family trip to Paris "I sat on the floor, looking through Belperron's drawings for hours.

I think even my grade school self recognized the these were beyond just sparkly things for women It was art." After graduating from Brown and working in the Manhattan district attorney's office, Nico joined his father at Verdura in 2004 with an eye specifically to re-launching Belperron Belperron herself, though married, never had children.

In 1941, when Herz was arrested by the Nazis, Belperron bought the company in order to save it. . Source