When Eternamé made its debut in 2007, the jewelry firm made headlines for its association with model Audrey Marnay, who moonlighted as its designer. Sarah Besnainou, the creative force behind the Paris-based concern, was rarely mentioned. “The press was more into her because she does have a name,” notes Besnainou, 29. Three years later, with business growing and entry into the U.S. market planned for fall, Besnainou is making her presence known.
While Marnay is still a close friend who occasionally offers her design two cents, Eternamé was actually Besnainou’s idea. The collection began, in fact, with a pair of sapphire and gold cuff links, engraved with the word eternamé, which she created for a former fiancé after a memorable night at a charity dinner. “The word means ‘make me eternal’ in Greek,” she explains. “I wanted him to remember [the evening] we spent together.”
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The relationship didn’t last, but for Besnainou, the jewelry-making impulse stuck. In her favor: the summer after college spent studying at the Gemological Institute of America in New York, albeit reluctantly. “I was interning for Dior in New York,” she recalls. “My parents let me go there as long as I was also in school. So I picked the school that was closest to the [Dior] offices. Finally, it’s helping me now.”
Eternamé, which is housed in a boudoir-style studio, consists of three collections: ready-to-wear offerings ($900 to $5,000 at retail), couture ($2,700 to $29,000) and haute couture ($10,000 to $200,000). What connects them is Besnainou’s eye for the ultraglamorous yet modern, whether amethyst cuffs or turquoise earrings embedded with tiny diamonds.
And she’s not opposed to soliciting advice from others, either. During couture week, for instance, she presented her collection via sketches and asked editors for their suggestions and feedback.
“I wanted to excite them and have the editors involved in the production and process of creation,” Besnainou says. “And it’s been so helpful for me. It’s like an open brainstorming session.”