Your Cart is Empty
How Did a Love of Antiques Become an Online Boutique?
Ever since I found a wonderful antique store that was just a brief bus ride away from my university, I've always loved antiques. There was something magical about them. At the time, it was mostly furniture and paintings that attracted me. I couldn't really afford it, but I wanted my silly student apartment to be stocked with as many antiques as I could find. I wanted to live within decor that had a story and a style that was different than the practical Ikea pieces my fellow students were buying. Back then, it was just a hobby, but years later, my love of antiques would become something else entirely.
- Christine M, Founder of Le Gem Nouveau
raison d'être
"I wasn't loyal to any particular style, I simply loved anything and everything from eras gone by."
And Then There Was Jewelry:
It took some time for me to commit to vintage and vintage-inspired jewelry. When I first decided to start an online boutique, I gravitated towards very mainstream styles. For some reason, I didn't connect my love of antiques with ideas for jewelry styles to stock in my store. I thought mainstream was best.
Eventually, when designing an earlier version of my store, I came across some images of old paintings and remembered an aesthetic I used to love. An idea was born that day.
Why Not Both?
I began to think about ways to combine my love of all things antique with my desire to start a modern, mainstream online jewelry store.
Eventually, it all came together. I was able to give my store a homey, antique store/art gallery feel and stock it with vintage-inspired jewelry made from modern materials. I figured this was the ideal way to share a passion of mine with online shoppers while still surviving in today's market.
And It Became Le Gem Nouveau:
So there's my story. It's nothing overly grand. I'm just an ordinary person. In fact, I'm actually fairly private and don't like getting personal online. I've never been that into social media and I'm not even sure I know how to use most forms of it properly, but when it came to this store, I felt I had something to share. I felt other women would enjoy that little feeling of old-world glamour I try to infused into the jewelry I sell.
That's my simple and humble goal: To give the people who shop at my store a bit of that feeling of times gone by that I experienced when I entered an antique store all those years ago.
Welcome to Le Gem Nouveau and thank you for taking the time to look through my gallery of wearable art.
- Love, Christine
Explore All Collections