Legacy

« The greatest legacy a good person can leave is their example.»

Joseph Michel Antoine Servan, Excerpt from Extrait d’un portefeuille (1807)

Discover Temyris by listening to the podcast “Brillante” by Il était une fois le Bijou. Aurore Vast and Anne Desmarest de Jotemps take you with them on a journey into the story of our House.

Temyris was born from a legacy

A legacy from a grandfather to his granddaughter. From Henry to Aurore. A concentration of beauty and ingenuity, and of love and passion.

A reflection of the feelings that Henry and his wife, Lucienne, felt for each other. It was for her that Henry was inspired to create an exceptional gift with his own hands. In the social whirl of pre-war balls and socialising with friends. It was a particularly carefree time – after the Great War – when happiness was possible once again.

Henry then imagined a beauty minaudière in an ultra-compact format, featuring a lipstick case, a mirror with its powder compact to be filled with scented rice powder, and an integrated perfume spray. Molded and then machined from galalith, the minaudière is adorned with delicate mother-of-pearl marquetry. Calling on craftsmen he knew to help him, it became the symbol of Henry’s love for his wife.

But this legacy was in danger.

Like the rest of their generation, Henry and Lucienne were struck by the ravages of the Second World War and together, they joined the Resistance. Intrepid, they listened to Radio London with bated breath, waiting for their orders. When the crackling voice uttered “Coco needs oxygen”, the were spurred into action. Coco was Henry’s nickname. Oxygen (AuxiGennes) was the contraction of the names Auxi le Château, where Henry was born and Gennes-Ivergny, the birthplace of Lucienne. The coded message had a single purpose. It confirmed that Henry must dynamite a bridge during the fast-approaching invasion. Victory was in sight. Henry and Lucienne had a life planned for their future family. The beauty minaudière was forgotten. But, towards the end of his life, Henry remembered it.

Upon his death, he bequeathed the minaudière to Aurore, his granddaughter.

Aurore was fascinated by the object, and even more impressed by its history. Yet, it wasn’t until many years later that she had the courage to mention it to her partner Paul. They do not share the same past, yet together they imagine a future for this minaudière: a beauty essential, an accessory of luxury and sensuality, crafted in France by exceptional artisans and rooted in modernity.
A new jewel case designed to offer nomadic, warrior women an unprecedented minaudière.
A 3-in-1 beauty essential with interchangeable makeup refills — lipsticks and powders.

The beauty minaudière is adorned with the seal of Temyris, the last Queen of the Amazons, to affirm that ‘women’ more than ever rhyme with ‘strength’ and ‘struggle.’

To honor her history, Temyris would wear a castle upon her armor and an eagle in her hair.