Bernard Marquin is well known in the finest jewelry circles due to his years spent as a leading designer for worldwide famous houses.
He had designed and produced successful masterpieces for the elite that nobody here had ever dreamed of.
The most prestige is three new seasonal costumes (summer, rainy season, winter) for the Emerald Buddha. This work, carried out in 1992, gave him the unprecedented privilege to approach Thailand’s most revered sacred sculpture and to be presented to His Majesty the King.Another two magnificent jewelry replicas are the “Suphannahong” (shown on the cover page) and “Naraïsongsuban” royal barges.
Charles Hollander Collection is the ultraluxury piece of art that Bernard is proud of to create under the cooperation with his old friend Charlie Hollander. The two old friends made ordinaory items into extradinary piece of art under the same vision.
Only an artist who find love, pleasure, enjoyment and beauty in jewely, could he said jewelry is an industry which makes people happy. For the whole life, Bernard focused on jewerly but never got tired. Jewelry is a source of personal pleasure, artistic enjoyment and mineral beauty to him. He states jewelry conveys a message of charm, love and peace.
He observed jewelry design since age of 14 when he was an apprentice in his uncle's workshop. Mr. Maquin says a piece of art has to come out with a spirit of creativity, not imitating others, but feeling truly proud of the heritage. He told his students to let their creativity be guided by their own ideas, feelings and desires.
In more than 20 years of drawing, designing and crafting jewelry masterpieces, Marquin is also a sophisicated craftman.His professionnal struggle has always been to keep the jewelry standards at their highest level. Mr. Maquin always tells his students, “The operational realities allow no approximation".
Well versed in European history, a fine musician and a poet, Mr. Maquin always emphasizes the importance of the French “compagnons”, those elite craftmen who, since the Middle Ages have designed the most admired monuments of his native country. “They were inheriting the spirit of the cathedral builders, he explains. For them, be they carpenters, jewelers, architects, sculptors…reaching perfection was the ultimate goal.
Mr. Marquin explains, the trend today is to sell signatures. It is going to become so common that soon we will give a personal touch to our tee-shirts by writing “me” on them. But for a signature to have a future, it shall corresponds to a label of quality.
Because a jewel is not only a piece of silver or gold encrusted with stones, but above all a work of art, Mr. Maquin has always insisted on the need to combine technique with form, and value with colour.
Belive in a master jeweler must be equally good at technique and design, Mr. Maquin said “from the very beginning, my attention focused both on the creativity side, I mean the design and the shapes of the jewels, and on the technical side,” “my time has always been equally shared between reflexion and manufacturing, between the abstract and the concrete".
A master artisit and craftman as he is, Bernard Maquin is also a great mentor.
He established a school and personnaly written a school manual with abundant historical, philosophical and religious references taken from diverse cultures.
Talented students from all over the country come to learn the techniques of carving, casting, polishing, embossing, encrusting, gem-cutting or gem-setting.
The courses are deliberately focused on production, with its students being able to achieve worldclass necklaces, diadems and other works after two years training.
