An 18K yellow gold and diamond set composed of a brooch and a pair of earclips

Frankreich, um 1970, Designed as three organic shapes,each center is pavé-set with brilliant-cut diamonds. Signed Gerard, makers' mark of André Vassort and French assay marks for gold and platinum.

André Vassort (fl. 1955–early 1990s)

André Vassort was a Paris-based jeweler and workshop owner (rather than a retail name). He was one of the skilled, largely anonymous artisans behind the great Place Vendôme maisons, in the tradition of craftsmen who worked unseen behind famous storefronts.

He registered his business and maker's mark in December 1955, setting up his workshop, Atelier Vassort, at 34 Rue Sainte Anne in Paris. From there he built one of the most important manufacturing workshops in French jewellery of the era, working as the maker behind major houses. He was manufacturing jewellery for retailers like Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron and Mauboussin, among others.

His defining relationship was with M. Gérard. When Louis Gérard left Van Cleef & Arpels in 1968, he founded his own house, M. Gérard, and turned to his former workshop connection to produce his jewellery. Over the following two decades Vassort produced spectacular jewels for M. Gérard, pieces still noted today for their superb manufacture, supplying the house through its jet-set 1970s heyday of boutiques in Paris, London, Gstaad, Monte Carlo, and Lausanne.

Because so much of his output was made for other houses' signatures, much of his jewellery was never marked and remains unattributed except to those who made it, though occasionally his own mark appears alongside a client house's signature, or stands alone.

Atelier Vassort closed in the early 1990s, by which point it had secured its place as one of the era's most important French jewellery workshops. Vassort’s mark, whether on a Boucheron bracelet or a Van Cleef & Arpels piece, is generally taken as a mark of exceptional craftsmanship.



M. Gérard (founded 1968, Paris)

M. Gérard was founded in 1968 by Louis Gérard, a Paris-born jeweler who came from a long line of jewelers and goldsmiths. He spent nearly two decades at Van Cleef & Arpels before striking out on his own, opening his first boutique at 8 Avenue Montaigne in Paris with the ambition of creating, in his own words, "the most beautiful jewels in the world."

For manufacturing, Gérard turned to André Vassort's workshop (the same atelier he'd relied on at Van Cleef & Arpels) and Vassort would go on to produce the house's jewellery for the next twenty years, work still noted for its superb craftsmanship.

The house's style was bold and extravagant: lavish use of diamonds and colored gemstones, sculptural 18K gold link bracelets and necklaces, and striking earclip and pendant suites; very much in step with, though distinct from, the more minimalist jewellery (think Elsa Peretti at Tiffany) that was also emerging in the mid-1970s.

M. Gérard cultivated a wealthy, international "jet set" clientele from Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East, and Louis Gérard leaned into the lifestyle that came with it — throwing extravagant parties and staging shows in Cannes and Monte Carlo. The brand expanded quickly, with boutiques opening within a decade in Gstaad, London, Lausanne, and Monte Carlo, and by 1980 the house's advertising touted it as the leading exporter of French fine jewellery for several years running.

Today, signed M. Gérard pieces (especially ones bearing Vassort's maker's mark alongside the Gérard signature) are collected as strong examples of French 1970s jewellery design — bold, sculptural, and technically excellent, thanks to the Vassort workshop behind them.