Designer Vincent Raffin’s high jewellery journey: from enthusiast and Dior intern to launching his own brand, Pen Mané

Vincent Guy Raffin never imagined he would become a designer until Joel Arthur Rosenthal of JAR, often referred to as the greatest living jeweller, gave him a sage piece of advice.

“He told me if you’re passionate about jewels, you always eventually arrive at design. Unlike many others, I did everything backwards – I learned the craft and business from the bottom up,” says Raffin, who after 20 years of working in the industry, will debut his fine jewellery brand in March 2025: Pen Mané, named after his family summer home located off the coast of Brittany in France.

Paris-born Raffin’s love affair with jewellery began when he was a young boy. From the age of six, he would visit the city’s numerous antique jewellery shops and pester the owners with questions. He also has fond memories of his mother driving him through the legendary Place Vendôme while regaling him with stories about the famed jewellers who have lived there for centuries.

“When I looked at jewellery, it made me dream of a better world. I would imagine the person wearing it and what life they would live. I discovered that with a jewel you can travel through space and time because it tells a story of how people used to live,” he says.

At 18, he got his first proper introduction to the industry when he interned with designer Dominique Sirop, who happened to be collaborating with Cartier. When he was finally finished with higher education, Raffin went on to work at jewellery house Poiray – which owned Boivin, one of his favourite designers – and later at Dior, which at the time was building its jewellery department with Victoire de Castellane at the helm.

He also struck up a treasured friendship with the elusive Rosenthal, who introduced him to Hong Kong jeweller Michelle Ong of Carnet. She eventually offered him a job and he moved to Hong Kong in 2005.

Stints with other high-profile jewellery brands such as David Yurman in New York, and Graff and Hemmerle in Asia followed, giving Raffin insight into the ins and outs of the business including how to promote, sell and build a collection.

On the side, he began dabbling in his first high jewellery design project – a long process that took over 10 years. “After that, I knew I wanted to do something that was precious yet wearable, and that belonged in the fine jewellery world,” he says.