Serge THORAVAL is born in Paris, at the bottom of the stairs of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre; as a young boy, he wants to be an engineer and spends hours on detailed drafts of a car, moved by elastic bands.

In 1989, jeweller friends ask him to help them sowder accessories for the Yves St Laurent collection they worked at; this meeting is the trigger for his creativity, and within a year, Serge has produced his first personnal pieces, and works in collaboration with various fashion designers on accessories and jewellery for their shows:
=> Thierry Mugler (1990 - 1991)
=> Claude Montana (1991 - 1993)
=> Lanvin Haute Couture (1992)
=> Joseph (1993)

He also designs lines of jewellery for Agnes B, Sonia Rykiel and Paco Rabanne.

In 1994, with the help of his partner, Geneviève, Serge opens his workshop and for the first time shows his own range at the salon 1ere Classe in Paris.

They are immediatly contacted by japonese and italian agents, and by the journalists of influent magazines such as Elle, Madame Figaro and Women Wear Daily .
In spite of the rising interest in their work, and the growing requests of customers, Serge and Geneviève are careful to maintain their way of working and producing. All items are made in France, and finished by hand in their workshop.

One by one, dedicated craftmen come and join them as assistants to Serge.
Beeing self-thaught, Serge has an intuitive way of working and etching the metal, unusual in jewellery, as described by his friend Francis, owner of the “Grand Magasin” in St Rémy de Provence:
“ From the simplest piece of silver, gold or metal, he knew the very core; as if he had a privileged, intimate, exclusive relationship with the metal. His jewellery became tatoos one could not give up, bearer of messages, thoughts, confidences, reflected images, confessions or complicities, almost like a second skin”.

All the strengh in this work comes from his poetic, intimate world etched on beaten, wrestled metal bent into sensual shapes; hammered gold, silver and bronze, delicate mesh bracelets and rings, mixture of cristal and stones.

In january 1999, Serge dies in a motorcycle accident in Paris.

Since june 2000, The workshop, Atelier Serge Thoraval, keeps producing the jewellery he created, under the care of Geneviève and of Serge’s assistants, for an ever increasing number of S.T. fans.

Enhanced by the opening of the "Serge Thoraval" shop in Tokyo and an expanding clientele of exclusive shops in Europe, Asia and Australia, strenghened by the tradition and savoir-faire it inherited, our team is now developping its own new collections faithful to the poetic sensitivity of its founder.

CHOSEN TEXTS
	“A kiss, what secrets hide in a kiss?”, Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand; The “Genesis”, Book of the Genesis in the Bible; Some words from Baudelaire; A poem from Verlaine; A sentence from Plato; Three texts from Paul Eluard; And anonymous writers that will forgive us for forgetting their names

“It is not a mere piece of jewellery, it goes right to your heart” as our friend Marie says.