John Rubel
Jean (better known as John) and Robert Rubel were craftsman with their own shop who created primarily wholesale pieces in the 1920s and 1930 predominantly for Van Cleef & Arpels. Jean and Robert came from Hungary to France and ran a jewelry shop in Budapest. They moved to Paris and opened a workshop at 22 rue Vivienne, not far from the Place Vendôme, in 1915. Being a mostly trade shop and producing quality works many of the big name houses in Paris wanted to work with Rubel Freres. Van Cleef & Arpels took notice and began working with Rubel Frères around 1923. This relationship strengthened and lasted for twenty years. Rubel Freres really solidified the relationship when Van Cleef and Arpels decided to exhibit in the 1925 Exposition Internationale des arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. Rubel Freres made several Egyptian revival type pieces for VCA as well as many commissioned pieces. Other firms caught on to their skill in craftsmanship including Ostertag. Because of the popularity of their behind the scenes craftmanship the Rubel workshop had to move to a larger premises by the end of the 1920's at 16 Avenue de l’Opera. They remained there making pieces for the Place Vendome boutiques until 1939. Thats when VCA opened offices in New York and offered them the opportunity to move to the United States. So they set up a workshop in New York to supervise all VCA jewelry made in the United States for the next four years. Then In 1943 they decided to establish themselves independently from VCA. They opened John Rubel & Co. at 777 5th Avenue. They took with them Duvalet a talented jeweler who worked with them at VCA. Infact both VCA and Rubel Freres shared his skills for a while. In 1946 they were able to open a second branch in Palm Beach, Florida. They focused their business on both establishing their name as retail jewelers and paid the bills doing trade work for companies like Black, Starr & Frost as well as Tiffany & Co. Their nephew Marcel Rubel inherited the Paris workshop but World War II meant he had to close it in the early 1940s and began dealing in diamonds for ease of trading and ability to move with inventory. Jean (now Americanized to John) and Robert decided to close their businesses here in the United states to return home to Paris to be reunited with their family.
