The Legacy of Marcel Boucher: Innovator in Costume Jewellery

In: Designers, Jewellery Designer
Marcel Boucher enamelled pins
Marcel Boucher enamelled pins

Marcel Boucher (1898 – 1968) was an American costume jeweller

Biography

Marcel Boucher was born in France, where he worked for Cartier, at the beginning of the 1920s, settled in the USA.

In 1925, Marcel Boucher arrived in New York from France and went to work for Cartier as a jeweller. Eventually, he left there and made shoe buckles, possibly for Trifari. At this time, jewellery was all flat, without high modulation. Marcel started his firm in the Thirties, and his first line is an extraordinary group of bird pins made with coloured stones and bright enamels. Nothing like this has ever been done before.

In the early 1930s, he designed shoe buckles for Mazer Bros., New York, established his own costume jewellery business in 1937 with 12 brooches, a line bought by Saks. The firm converted to producing wartime materials during World War II; in 1949, Boucher hired Raymonde Semensohn as his assistant and engineer. Changing her name to Sandra Semensohn, she left for Tiffany’s in 1958 but returned in 1961; in 1964, she married Boucher. After Boucher died in 1965, she managed the firm, which became a subsidiary of watch manufacturer Dovorn Industries in 1972. In 1975, Sandra Boucher began designing costume jewellery for Ciner, New York.

Marcel Boucher Advertisement Marcel Boucher Advertisement 02 May 1964, Sat Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) Newspapers.com

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

Miller, H. S. (1990). The official identification and price guide to costume jewellery. House of Collectibles.

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