Brand

I had a life before Bastille. A life as a manager in a large multinational company.

I was juggling between a very intense professional life, young children, a very busy entrepreneurial husband, a rich social life… and like many women in my situation, I didn’t have much time to wonder. And I didn’t really feel the need to do so.

But was I really where I dreamed I’d be?

It required a family project of living in the provinces to tear me away from the well-oiled and so exciting mechanics of my overbooked daily life.
Let’s be clear: I loved my ” past ” life. I do not deny anything of those years that taught me so much and without which nothing would be possible today.

But then, for the first time, instead of asking myself what skills I needed to develop to get the next job, I had the luxury of being able to ask myself what I wanted to do. And, to my great surprise, this question left me speechless. Which takes the biscuit when you know how talkative I am!

So for once, I allowed myself to stop thinking and tried to listen to me. And against all odds, one thing became obvious: I was very manual. Since forever. And I loved it. It has always been part of me and in every place where I have lived I have always set up a small workshop for myself. Of course, it was just a hobby, and I would never have considered it otherwise. A manual and artisanal profession, me? Let’s be serious!

But prejudices have a less harsh life than it seems when you really take the time to challenge yourself. It opens up new horizons. So here I am at a crossroads: reconciling the person I am personally and the one I am professionally. My creative passion would probably not be enough to make me happy. But combining it with the excitement of entrepreneurship and the desire to learn things every day that I didn’t know about until a few weeks or days ago; yes, I do. A thousand times yes!

This is how Bastille was born.

My jewellery is fine and delicate. I draw them and create them in my workshop. Every piece you wear will be passed through my hands. I am extremely attentive to the selection of my raw materials, which I want to be of excellent quality and European (with the exception of suede which comes mainly from Japan). Finally, I have my fine gold jewellery gilded in France by a craftsman chosen for his rigour, his demanding nature and the finesse of his work.

Today, when I look at my jewellery with a step back, I realize that I work a lot in asymmetry. It’s unintentional, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I like to think that there is a little of both of my “selves” in this imbalance that is being balanced. A little bit like the lives of many women finally, who, depending on the time of day and the situations they face, juggle with many roles, faces, postures, while always remaining fundamentally themselves.

You will write the rest of the adventure. It is you who will find, or not, in my creations a resonance with who you are. And I hope you will have as much pleasure in wearing my jewellery as I have had in imagining and shaping it with my hands.

Dream big, dare everything, lead your revolution whatever it is.

Be yourself and take your Bastille, it is close at hand.

Julie.