Charlotte Chesnais — When Jewellery Meets the Body
For Charlotte Chesnais, jewellery is defined as much by its form as by the way it interacts with the body. Enveloping curves, suspended volumes, lines extending away from the skin: since 2015, the French designer has developed a language somewhere between jewellery and sculpture, in which each piece only takes on its full meaning when worn.
An earring that appears to float beyond the earlobe. A bracelet whose curves extend towards the hand. Several rings that cross the fingers rather than encircling them individually. In Charlotte Chesnais' earliest creations, the conventional proportions of jewellery are already being reimagined. The lines remain simple, almost familiar, yet their position on the body introduces something unexpected.
This freedom has its origins in a career that did not initially lead towards jewellery. Trained in fashion, Chesnais discovered jewellery design at Balenciaga, an experience that would have a lasting influence on her approach to objects. She found a field in which material, volume and function could be explored on a smaller scale, without the constraints of garment construction.
Exploration of Pearls — A line of pearls traces the contours of the body.
Jewellery, Almost by Chance
When Nicolas Ghesquière asked Charlotte Chesnais to design jewellery for a Balenciaga runway show, she had already been working at the fashion house for several years. At the time, she was involved in ready-to-wear and various special projects, with no formal training in jewellery design.
The initial request was for a few bracelets. She accepted, discovered the workshops and began developing her first pieces. The experience, which she would later describe as largely accidental, revealed an immediate affinity for this new discipline.
Where clothing requires the construction of a silhouette through flexible materials, jewellery allows her to work directly with volume. A form can be held, shaped, repositioned and observed from different angles. It has an existence of its own, even before being worn.
At Balenciaga, this exploration benefited from considerable freedom. Pieces created for runway shows were not necessarily intended to become part of commercial collections. Materials, proportions and techniques could be tested without immediately having to meet the demands of mass production.
Chesnais gradually developed a practice based on experimentation, dialogue with craftspeople and the progressive transformation of forms. This direct relationship with making would remain central when she founded her own label in 2015, following Nicolas Ghesquière's departure from Balenciaga.
Her references extend far beyond jewellery. She has cited the sculptures of Constantin Brancusi and Jean Arp, whose continuous volumes and refined contours resonate with her own explorations. Yet it is perhaps her relationship with design that best explains her approach: rather than an ornament intended to complete an outfit, jewellery becomes an object whose construction, proportions and function must be considered.
Twin Pavé — Gold rings punctuated with diamonds form a sculptural volume. 
Cœur Serti Sculpté — Two golden curves form an open shape against the skin. 
Petit Binary Chain — Elongated links follow the line of the neck.
Form in Relation to the Body
In the Paris workshop where Charlotte Chesnais develops her creations, drawing is only one stage of the process. The designer describes notebooks filled with quick, sometimes rough sketches, which gradually take shape through her work with craftspeople.
Forms are bent, cut, soldered or hammered. A curve may be extended, an angle softened, a proportion entirely reconsidered. The process unfolds through successive experiments until a balance emerges that the initial drawing could not always anticipate.
This approach partly explains the distinctive silhouettes of Charlotte Chesnais' jewellery. An idea conceived as a ring may evolve into an earring. The object's category is not necessarily determined from the outset; it becomes clearer as the form encounters the constraints of the body.
A curve does not behave in the same way around a finger, a wrist or an ear. Weight must be distributed, a point of support established and volume adjusted to accommodate movement without restricting it. Making jewellery involves both aesthetic exploration and a practical understanding of how the body moves.
The Round Trip earrings illustrate this particular relationship. Their rounded lines extend beyond the usual point of attachment, creating a silhouette around the earlobe whose proportions shift according to the viewing angle. The metal appears to trace an independent path, while relying on the ear to find its position.
In other creations, lines extend from one finger to another or rise from the wrist towards the hand. Jewellery does not always seek to follow anatomical contours. It may move away from them, visually cross them or introduce a curve that contrasts with their natural direction.
This tension between the freedom of the design and the practical necessity of wearing the object is one of the defining qualities of Chesnais' work. The forms possess a sculptural presence, yet remain subject to a simple reality: a body in motion.
Round Trip — Golden curves create an open volume around the earlobe.
The Space Around the Metal
The sculptural quality of Charlotte Chesnais' jewellery lies not only in its volumes, but also in the way metal shapes the space around it.
A line moves away from the skin before returning to it. Two curves cross without necessarily meeting. An opening reveals part of a hand or an ear, whose contours become part of the composition.
Empty space becomes as important as the material that defines it.
This relationship is particularly visible in pieces where metallic lines overlap. Depending on the jewellery's orientation, the spaces between them narrow or widen, altering the perception of its thickness. A form that appears compact from the front may reveal a much lighter construction when viewed from the side.
Polished silver and vermeil accentuate these variations. Their reflective surfaces capture light and emphasise changes in the metal's direction. Reflections travel along a curve, disappear within a volume, then reappear on another surface.
The skin introduces a different presence, less uniform, its texture and colour contrasting with the metallic finishes.
This interplay between material and space brings Chesnais' work close to certain concerns found in furniture design and sculpture. In these disciplines, an object's silhouette depends as much on its solid elements as on the openings and distances between them. At the scale of jewellery, these relationships can unfold over just a few millimetres.
Movement adds another dimension. As a hand closes, a wrist turns or a head moves to one side, the jewellery changes position in space.
The object retains its structure, but its appearance evolves with the person wearing it.
Twin and Twin Serti — Two gold rings with interlacing details, one set with a diamond. 
Wave Perles — Pearls of varying sizes trace a gentle curve around the neck. 
Twin Pavé — Parallel golden lines punctuated with diamonds follow the movement of the wrist. 
Wave Perles — Irregular rows of pearls intersected by golden curves.
A Signature Defined by Form
This attention to form also gives Charlotte Chesnais' creations an existence independent of the body. Photographed on their own, they retain the presence of objects, almost miniature sculptures. Some could be observed from several angles without their function being immediately apparent.
Chesnais embraces this autonomy. Her pieces can be appreciated as forms in their own right, while remaining closely connected to their function.
Since her earliest collections, this dual identity has helped establish a recognisable language. Continuous curves, off-centre volumes, enveloping lines and unusual proportions recur in different configurations. Materials evolve and scales change, yet certain formal relationships remain.
This continuity does not depend on systematically reproducing a particular design. A line may find a new expression in a ring, bracelet or earring. A familiar curve changes proportion or direction without entirely losing its connection to earlier creations.
Charlotte Chesnais' signature is therefore defined less by an emblem than by a way of drawing.
In an industry where a house's identity often relies on recognisable motifs, her jewellery develops its own vocabulary. An opening, a movement of metal or the meeting of two volumes can sometimes be enough to establish a connection between pieces.
This exploration has gradually extended to new materials and more precious forms. In 2025, the presentation of a fine jewellery collection in gold, incorporating diamonds and pearls, among other elements, marked a new stage.
The constraints imposed by these materials introduce new possibilities and limitations, without interrupting the exploration of proportion and volume.
The evolution of the house lies in its ability to pursue a formal investigation rather than continually introducing new signature motifs. Jewellery may change material, purpose or scale; it retains something of the way Chesnais understands the relationship between object and body.
Double Serti Sculpté — Gold curves and diamonds create an open, sculptural form.
At the Scale of the Body
In Charlotte Chesnais' work, sculpture is never entirely detached from function. Curves have their own balance, volumes their own presence, yet the body introduces a dimension that no photograph of the object alone can fully convey.
A ring changes the way a hand is perceived. An earring draws a new contour around the face. A bracelet follows a movement while asserting a line of its own.
Through these few centimetres of metal, jewellery design engages with questions that run through design at other scales: how does a form find its place, how does it interact with its surroundings, and what becomes of it when it is put to use?
In Charlotte Chesnais' work, the answers to these questions are found closest to the body.
Designs: Charlotte Chesnais.
Images sourced from Charlotte Chesnais’ official channels.
