The house

The House of Valérie Valentine

French designer Valérie Valentine is specialised in the creation of luxury hand-made leather hair ornaments and jewellery. Exclusively “made-in-France”, Valérie Valentine comprises an office, an atelier and a boutique all situated near the Place des Vosges in Paris.

Valérie Valentine works with clients across the globe, as witnessed by her success with clients in Japan and China as well as in Europe and the USA. The quality of each item, the originality of the design and the large selection at the Paris boutique or via the on-line store make these hair ornaments ready-made haute couture.

The key to Valérie Valentine is the exquisitely Parisian Valerie Dassa herself, who imagines each and every unique piece of her collection before they are brought to life by a team of highly skilled craftsman in her atelier in the Marais.

Her hair ornaments are elegant touches of luxury. The nuances of colour, texture and shine are vast, allowing each client to find something that is unique and bold.

The Designer

Valérie Dassa is Valérie Valentine.

Valérie Dassa is a French designer who infuses her creations with her own flare for colour, texture and design.

One of the most successful and emblematic examples is her rose. In this most evocative of pieces, the leather is worked to resemble the velour of petals. Swarovski® crystals – an element that she has incorporated since the beginning – bring movement and light.

Valérie Dassa transforms the traditional into something dynamic, timeless, beautiful and desirable.

“Anything and everything can be a source of inspiration,” says Valérie Dassa and as an avid traveller, her voyages are one of many influences. The graphics of the great cities inspire her; the changing landscapes of nature inspire her.

Her black and white line echoes the black and white photographs of Paris postcards while the rainbow of colours across her bows and headbands come from a palette seen in nature, in a painting or in a book. The collection is a walk through a garden of exotic flowers and precious jewels where the most sinuous of arabesques combine.

Interview

Your path has seen you almost fall into the leather like into a magic potion!

It's true that my story is intimately intertwined with that material. Before creating hair accessories, I had the chance to take care of a leather clothing workshop. My taste for beautiful leatherwear, especially exotic leatherwear, was born there... The contact with these very beautiful materials, but also the artisans from whom I learned so much, was, I believe, really decisive.

In 1991, you turn towards hair accessories and launch a first collection, tell us about that!

This first collection is the result of a creative meeting with my own sister! She came from a barrette manufacturing company, I handled the leather... We created leather barrettes, starting in a very artisanal way, at home! Then the collection pleased people and was distributed in Sephora, Agatha and in large department stores.

In the creative process, do you favor drawing or is the inspiration born of the material itself?

I do not draw anything beforehand, I need to create each model by having the material in my hands. Sometimes the model takes shape in the course of these manipulations, and sometimes it is a precise idea that guides the research of the materials, like for the flowers, which are emblematic of our collections. I also am inspired the colors of the season, colors favored by fashion. Anything goes !

The Atelier

The Atelier Valérie Valentine lies in the Marais district of Paris.

The highly skilled artisans who work there are graduates from the city’s renowned La Fabrique School. These craftsmen - artists in their own right - turn the dazzling ideas from Valérie Valentine’s imagination into wearable, sculptural hair ornaments and jewellery. For Valérie Valentine, the quality of the workmanship is as essential as the quality of the primary materials, the good taste and the innovation of the designs. The work of the atelier reflects this credo.

Valérie herself is always to be found nearby, either in her office or in the atelier itself. It is precisely her close relationship with her workshop that guarantees the quality of the collection.

The quality

CRYSTALS FROM SWAROVSKI : UNRIVALED QUALITY

"I have always used them, at first sparingly, then more systematically because success was immediate ! This is a high-end material that exists in almost every color, allowing for limitless creative options ! I also very quickly made exclusive products for the Valerie Valentine collections."

Swarovski® is the premium brand for the finest crystal embellishments since 1895. It is recognized for its innovation excellence and its collaborations with top-class designers and brands in the fashion, jewelry, accessories, interior design, and lighting industries across the globe.

Available in a myriad of colors, effects, shapes, and sizes, crystals from Swarovski offer a fabulous palette of inspiration and are produced according to the innovative, lead-free* Advanced Crystal standard.

*Crystal glass and all other materials containing 0.009% lead or less.

PEAUSSERIE POULAIN : THE ART OF LEATHER

"We work with Peausserie Poulain, a French house which also supplies the biggest names in haute couture and decoration. It should be known that in France, like Italy, there are heirs to the long tradition of fine leatherwear. Our exotic leatherwear comes from luxuary french group."

Unequaled leather specialist, Peausserie Poulain has, since its creation in 1919, been run by the same family.

Combining traditional values and innovation preserve its reputation, this house’s demand for quality has won over the biggest names in Haute Couture and decoration.

Peausserie Poulain develops an infinite variety of styles and colors, regularly renewed: dipped lambskin leather and goat suede produced in more than 100 colors for a palette that is truly breathtaking.