ALT Paris is a chic and fast-growing jewellery brand to know

When Théo Jaquet inherited his grandparents’ things, he was drawn to the intimacy of their jewellery. The simplest items were the ones that had what he calls ‘transgenerational appeal’: pieces that felt timeless rather than those that read as rooted in another epoch.

As recently as six years ago, Jaquet didn't wear any personal adornment, but he decided to re-appropriate one particular piece from his grandparents. What became the cornerstone of his jewellery brand, ALT Paris, was inspired by the chain of an old pocket watch (montre à gousset). Instead of leaning into the ‘vintage’ aspect – antique, storied, traditional – he created something modern and sylphlike. The necklace he designed featured a rounded carabiner clasp and a small engraved medal.

At the time, Paris-based Jaquet was working in digital communication for luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, then as a freelance marketing consultant. It took him three years to decide to pivot and start his own brand based on the regular positive feedback regarding his accessory. His aesthetic has been inspired by American conceptual artist James Lee Byars, French poet and playwright Jean Cocteau, and Italian jewellery designer Elsa Peretti. In 2022, he officially began ALT Paris and started hosting pop-ups. By 2024, he opened a permanent boutique in the Marais on rue Picardie, in the shadow of the Carreau du Temple, a former covered market, in a conjoined space with his husband, who has a brand of canvas totes and leather clutches, Allemandi.

A second location was launched less than two months ago, in the second arrondissement’s Passage Choiseul – a 19th-century passageway full of restaurants and shops overhung by a recessed glass roof, not far from the Jardins du Palais Royal. The store’s previous occupier was also a jewellery brand, the owner of which Jaquet knew, and he was able to smoothly take over when they left: he was especially charmed by the rounded vitrine, which he felt resonated with the rounded shapes of his jewellery line. He describes the locale as a petit écrin (little jewellery box) – it’s a slip of a place with white walls and a central table that creates a welcome akin to ‘a dining table around which you could have a coffee’. The table is dotted with custom-made ceramic trays to display the pieces, and other items are sparingly hung on the walls. Jaquet loves that the passageway is both touristy and Parisian, drawing varied passers-by. Jaquet feels it is legitimitising to have a boutique, as it’s a way to ‘transcribe the universe the brand’.

The pillars of the perennial collection are earcuffs, bangles, and necklaces. Because of the unembellished style of the pieces, Jaquet loves that they can be layered: ‘You can wear four rings and it’s not too much,’ he advised (they come in up to five different thicknesses). One could also double up the earcuffs, use a ring as a pendant, or alter the length of a cable chain of faceted links to wear as a necklace or a bracelet.

Jaquet used his earlier involvement in the luxury world to seek out specialised ateliers in France to work with. ALT Paris is mostly sold in France, with offerings sprinkled in Biarritz, Marseille, and Saint-Tropez. The jewellery is also available at the new Printemps store on Wall Street in New York City, as well as boutiques in Tokyo and Osaka. The savoir-faire around artisanal jewellery is not specific to France, but Jaquet likes that his ateliers are readily accessible by train from Paris (they’re located near Reims and Lyon, respectively). This makes it easy to go and survey prototypes, and Jaquet also appreciates the facility of communicating on techniques in his mother tongue, rather than, for example, taking a plane to an atelier in Italy.

The brand is unisex – both aesthetically, in its neutral simplicity, and, more pragmatically, in the range of sizes that fit necks, fingers, and wrists of various dimensions. Each piece is available in silver, vermeil or 18ct gold. While ALT Paris has not committed to upcycling internally, Jaquet offers clients the option to melt down old jewellery – such as dated heirlooms that no one wears today, replicating his own story – to be redesigned according to the ALT blueprints. In this manner, Jaquet allows the familial heritage to mix with contemporary design.

alt-paris.com