The quirky creations of jeweller Nadine Ghosn: fans include Drake, Pharrell and Beyoncé, and she’s worked with everyone from McDonald's to a celeb pastry chef – but Hermès is her dream collab

Mar 28 , 2024

Jewellery designer Nadine Ghosn is making waves with her often quirky, food-inspired fine jewellery. Photo: Handout

Last year the millennial designer moved to Singapore – now she’s bringing her kooky, viral-ready creations to town with a trunk show during Art Basel Hong Kong

An Instagram friendship with Parisian pastry chef Cédric Grolet has grown into a quirky collaboration, inspiring croissants and other pastries as gold jewellery

Since launching her brand in 2016, Nadine Ghosn has upended the world of fine jewellery with her unexpected and playful creations that have attracted everyone from Pharrell, Drake and Beyoncé to renowned pastry chef Cédric Grolet.

How would you describe your jewellery?

Funnily enough my aesthetic has been very consistent since the beginning – my designs are quirky, tongue-in-cheek and unexpected. I would say many of our pieces are similar to wearable art from the point of view of them being contemporary and inspired by objects that we easily recognise.

What has changed is the growing emphasis I place on technical development, both in terms of the design and manufacturing. Our collections have become increasingly more complex. Our bike chain is the perfect example – it’s a simple design, but the bracelet consists of almost 380 pieces that need to be combined individually by hand, and there’s micro pavé diamonds at each link. Then you have the straw bracelet – it takes great skill to get the bends right and we also use a sandblasting technique to recreate the crease-like effect.

Last year you went viral on social media with your collaboration with hip pastry chef Cédric Grolet. How did that come about?

Believe it or not, it was a very organic collaboration which started out with him sending me a DM on Instagram. I would always post a photo of his pain au chocolat when I was in Paris and at one point he reached out to tell me that his girlfriend loved my pieces and suggested we meet for coffee.

Bijou croissant Cédric Grolet by Ghosn. Photo: Handout

We genuinely connected with each other – we were both 30-year-olds discussing how we built our own brands, leveraged social media and expanded our visions. From there we decided to work on something together, but I wanted it to be food-related, fun and collectable.