In advance of our live interview, here is some background on the 27-year-old, French wunderkind that has taken the world of high jewellery by storm. Emmanuel Tarpin burst into the jewellery world only three years ago and the story so far, due to its meteoric nature, is surprisingly short.
Tarpin was born in the postcard perfect town of Annecy in a pristine valley of the Alps in south-eastern France. In what sounds like an idyllic childhood, Tarpin grew up surrounded by nature. Walks in flower-filled meadows, mountain hikes and forest rambles gave him a love of flora and fauna that infuses his work. A frail buttercup becomes a golden ring or waxy Calla lilies transform into ultra-light aluminium earrings. After graduating from jewellery studies at Geneva’s HEAD (Haute École d’Arts Appliqués), for three years Tarpin sat a jewellery bench at Van Cleef & Arpels’ High Jewellery ateliers in Paris where he learnt how to make the perfect ballerina brooch as well as honing other techniques as he learnt from the most accomplished and rigorous masters of the craft.
In 2017, at just 25, he went solo and by end of the year a fortuitous and impromptu visit to Christie’s in New York sealed his fate as the ‘one to watch’. Walking in off the street to show his anodised aluminium and gold Geranium Leaf earrings, had the auction house hastily adding a last minute double-page to its upcoming sales catalogue. Spontaneity paid off and the earrings sold for $25,000. Accolades started to roll in and Tarpin was named Rising Star prize from Fashion Group International and ‘Designer of the Year’ at the Town and Country Jewelry Awards.
Rihanna stepped out in his black aluminium Seashell earrings and the crème de la crème New York dealer Siegelson sells his work to its elite clientele of jewellery connoisseurs. Working from Paris on his own designs, Tarpin jewels are sometimes lifelike, sometimes abstract and often wrought from ultra-light materials such as aluminium. Diamond and gemstones delicately flecked his work that focusses on form and colour over high-value stones. But these are early days and expect to see this designer evolve and mature before our very eyes.
