Messika: Inside French Jewellery’s Most Disruptive Success

The Parisian diamond jewellery house Messika turns 20 this year and celebrations—kicking off in July during Haute Couture Week and culminating in September for Paris Fashion Week—are sure to be star-studded affairs. The brand is a celebrity favourite, outfitting Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart and Eva Longoria for the red carpet; while Kendall Jenner has fronted the brand’s campaigns since 2022.

The daughter of a diamantaire, artistic director Valérie Messika founded her brand with a distinct rock‘n’roll, everyday glamour aesthetic, which quickly caught on with a younger generation of jewellery buyers. The look was ahead of the curve on Place Vendôme, where heritage-led houses like Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron and Chaumet still relied heavily on more classic bridal and formal pieces.

“It wasn’t easy having our own position in this industry in front of those big brands, most of which are owned by large groups,” Ms. Messika recalls. “But we brought something different to the industry in terms of creativity, DNA and the way of thinking and wearing jewels.”

Since then, the whole industry has shifted its focus in a bid to appeal to women interested in more casual jewellery, often purchasing for themselves. Epitomising the more everyday wearability of diamonds is Messika’s Move collection, which launched in 2007 and set three sliding round brilliant diamonds within a horizontal gold bar, evoking a freer, fun way of wearing diamonds. Today Messika’s best-selling icon, the tactile Move design has over 10 dedicated collections, with declinations including the single diamond Uno line, Lucky Move medallions and a more masculine titanium collection. Prices for the fine jewellery range start around €700 but can reach the tens of thousands (the brand’s average price point and sweet spot is around €3,500). Two years ago, the house began to interpret Move into high jewellery, pieces of which can exceed €1 million.

In 2013, the house opened its first flagship on Paris’s fashionable Rue Saint-Honoré and today Messika has nearly 100 boutiques, alongside some 500 multi-brand doors globally. E-commerce, which today represents four percent of total sales, has also been a success story: in France, Messika’s biggest market, its online site is ranked as Messika’s second best store after its Parisian flagship.

Youthful Image, Industry Roots

Much of the brand’s visibility in the last two decades has been driven by celebrity endorsement—Beyoncé was an early fan—and today Messika is synonymous with the top names in fashion: Gigi Hadid, Natalia Vodianova and Kate Moss have all fronted campaigns for the house. Its latest campaign with Jenner highlights the brand’s international ambitions: after Jenner’s debut campaign set in St Tropez, the latest is set in a remote desert, a departure from a Parisian or urban aesthetic.

That approach enabled it to capture a younger generation of customers — which still power the brand, according to Ms. Messika. “The strength of Messika is that we don’t have to pretend to reach the young generation. It’s in the DNA of the brand. The spirit, the models, the advertising—there is this vibration of fashion in the jewellery and diamonds,” she says. “Looking ahead at the next 20 years, we want to keep this youthfulness and energy of coolness.”

Anchoring this vision is Messika’s deep roots in the diamond industry. Messika’s father André, an international diamond merchant with operations in Israel and Africa, supplies all of the brand’s stones. Her husband Jean-Baptiste Sassine, the brand’s CEO since 2014, likewise hails from a diamond family, having studied gemmology in Antwerp before working with André.

As the face of one of jewellery’s most successful start-ups, Messika regularly receives messages from strangers on social media, praising her as an inspiring female entrepreneur. “I realised being a spokesperson was a strength. People love having stories behind the brand.” The story of a multi-generational family of diamond experts is one Messika would like to emphasise, too, in the coming years. “When I started the brand it was never Valérie Messika, but Messika—I want to pay tribute to the work that my father started,” she says.

Tripling Sales

Messika remains independently owned—with no plans for taking on outside investors, according to its founders.

Sales have tripled in the last five years, CEO Sassine says. While the company declined to disclose exact figures, previous public comments suggest revenues above $360 million.

As luxury sales slow, consultancy Bain & Co forecast jewellery as one of the most resilient categories alongside beauty and eyewear in its latest industry report in November.

Claudia D’Arpizio, global head of fashion and luxury at Bain, says that the branded jewellery sector in particular is especially sound and resilient, thanks to jewellery being less subject to fashion cycles. Jewellery’s intrinsic value—from gold and diamonds—also reinforces the category’s investment appeal for customers, making it especially popular in times of crisis.

“Paradoxically, jewellery has become a kind of entry item for luxury,” says D’Arpizio. “You can spend €1,500 on a fantastic gift of jewellery that is branded, with all the iconic signs and signifiers of the brand, with gold, stones, diamonds. It’s difficult to find a leather bag at that price.”

New Retail Markets

Messika has ambitions to expand its retail footprint to 180 boutiques by 2030, with a focus on Asia and the US. The brand is opening its first stores in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, while a roll-out continues in China, which Messika first entered at the end of 2020.

The US currently represents 11 percent of Messika’s global sales, set across some 80 doors including nine boutiques. The market is a key focus for 2025—with a Madison Avenue boutique set to open in April—as the company sees it as a potential third pillar to complement its current top regions of Europe and the Middle East. (Incidentally, Dubai Mall is its number one store worldwide.)

Despite the expansion of its monobrand network, multibrand stores remain key partners. This is as much about sharing profits and costs as loyalty, says Mr Sassine. He cites France, its top market, and its retail partners in locations like Lyon, Marseille and Cannes. “Those guys were with us 20 years ago when we started, when we were nothing,” he says. “You need to have someone strong in those kinds of cities, who have owned multibrand [stores] for three, four generations. They know everyone and bring real knowledge—they’ll do the job much better and faster than me today.”

Mixing retail and wholesale is particularly relevant for jewellery players. According to Bain & Co, some 300 to 500 high-end, specialised multibrand retailers hold prime locations in city centres in the U.S. and Europe and boast a portfolio of loyal VIP clients. These retailers also tend to be dealers of the top watch brands—namely Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet—which jewellery brands like to partner with as it helps drive traffic. Highly customer focused, such multi-brand retailers drive much of a brand’s marketing and CRM activities, says D’Arpizio, which has driven the sector’s success and resiliency.

“There is a large element of trust and relationships in jewellery that is even more important than fashion and luxury at large,” she says. “Retail operations run locally and are very rooted in the local communities, which is very important.”

High Jewellery

In terms of product, a focus for the future is high jewellery, a category that has nearly tripled in turnover over the last 18 months, says Sassine. The house makes around 180-200 high jewellery pieces a year, all produced in Messika’s high jewellery atelier that opened in Paris in 2015. The Move high jewellery in particular has been a success. “We were really surprised how people went crazy for it—they were clearly looking for high jewellery that was recognisable with the brand,” Sassine says.

D’Arpizio notes that a kind of high-low strategy works especially well in jewellery. On one side is a focus on ultra-high-net worth clients through high jewellery and dedicated events, complemented by collections that reach lower price points. “This enlarges the customer base and provides additional reasons to buy, in particular for gifting,” D’Arpizio says.

Certainly, the new high jewellery business feels reminiscent of Messika’s early days, 20 years ago. “Because we have the expertise of diamonds, and because our high jewellery is pretty different, it helps me reach another kind of clientele,” says Ms Messika. “Our high jewellery is more wearable and stylish. High jewellery used to be and still is something very secularised—like a piece of art that is very respectful. But sometimes so respectful that you don’t want to enjoy and wear it.”