his awesome necklace is, literally and figuratively, all "peaches 'n' cream"!

A very rare signed Louis Rousselet, our necklace is a beautiful medley of creamy faux pearls and peach art glass beads and, like the proverbial "peaches 'n' cream" complexion, it is positively glowing!

Rousselet is considered one of the premier bead and jewelry makers in Europe of all time. Between the 1930s-1970s, he designed for THE "Who's Who" of the fashion world, among them, Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, Jacques Fath, Jean Patou, Lanvin, Pierre Balmain, Robert Pique and Nina Ricci.

All his glass beads were hand-wound and hand-polished, and artisans trained for six to seven years just so they could make the beads, according to author Ginger Moro, in her book "European Designer Jewelry". His pearls were dipped in "essence l'Orient", the same fish compound that Miriam Haskell later on adapted for, and made famous, her baroque pearl creations.

As he made jewelry for fashion houses, Rousselet pieces were rarely stamped; some had paper labels only. I've owned a few, and come across others, but this is the first one I've found that is signed with Rousselet's "L.R." script signature. Moro writes that in 1952, Rousselet made a series of 50 pearl and glass bead necklaces for Balmain that were stamped with his initials, but it is not clear whether ours is part of that series.

and

Louis Rousselet (1892-1980) was born in Paris and apprenticed at the tender age of eight to M. Rousseau to master the technique of lamp-work beads. "Before World War I, it was common practice to apprentice young children to a trade. Families needed as many working members as possible," reports Denise Rousselet, Louis' daughter. In 1922, in Menilmontant, Louis began manufacturing glass and Galalith beads as well as imitation pearls (glass beads coated on the outside with essence d'Orient, a fish scale compound). Very soon his firm was a major source of handmade beads worldwide, employing nearly 800 workers over the years.

Lastly - if you have the book "Glass beads from Europe: by Sibylle Jargstorf go to pages 76-78