Fouquet
Alphonse Fouquet (1828-1911) began his apprenticeship to a manufacturing jeweler in Paris when he was 11 years old. He trained for five years then left to pursue other opportunities and sought work with a number of different craftsmen including Alexis Falize. In 1860 he set up his own business, initially in a partnership but after two years he left to become independent. He employed about thirty people and many of the pieces they made were for export to other European countries. The 1878 Exposition Universelle marked a turning point for Fouquet. He left Marais district and moved to a premises at 35 Avenue de l’Opera. Fouquet was designing right up until 1895 when he handed over the business to his son Georges. Georges Fouquet (1862-1957) started work in 1880 so by the time he succeeded his father he had all the skills he needed in the business. He presented his first collections in 1898 and in 1900 at the Exposition Universelle he was able to present a display with the artist Alphonse Mucha. The story is that actress Sarah Bernhardt asked Fouquet to make a bracelet for her from a design by Mucha. Together these two men went on to create a range Art Nouveau jewelry. Mucha would even design the new shop premises that the Maison Fouquet moved to on the rue Royal at the beginning of the new century. In 1910 fashions were changing and the Art Nouveau style was being superseded. In preparation for the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs he wanted to show drastically new designs and encouraged his team to produce them. Georges’ son Jean (1899-1961) had joined the family business and exhibited his pieces for the first time at the 1925 fair. The Maison closed in 1936 after a challenging few years in the wake of the 1929 crash. Jean continued to work independently, taking on private commissions and working with a select group of craftsmen. In 1952 he became a lecturer at L’École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and in 1961 the Victorian and Albert Museum in London included works by both Jean and his father Georges in their ‘International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery 1890-1961’. Jean passed the same year and didn’t live to see the exhibition.
