Meet the Buyer: Stéphanie Roger

Two ateliers in the heart of Paris. An idea conceived after a journey to the United States.Two ateliers in the heart of Paris. An idea conceived after a journey to the United States. A retail model that focuses on trunk shows and pop-up events. Founder Stéphanie Roger, who created this cozy Parisian treasure where independent designers are welcome, tells us how a multi-brand contemporary jewelry store can be successful.

«I have always worked in fine jewelry for Cartier, Piaget, Chaumet and Dinh Van. In my travels to the United States, I was particularly interested in the fine jewelry department of Barney’s, which I viewed as emerging. The selection was different from the other US department stores. At Barney’s they were mainly exhibiting designer brands and I have always liked that and followed their development. At some point, it became evident that I wanted to create a similar concept in Paris because there was really no alternative to traditional fine jewelry names. This is how the first White Bird in Rue du Mont Thabor, off Place Vendôme, was born (the second address is in boulevard des Filles du Calvaire). We started with twelve jewelry brands seven years ago and now I think we have over fifty. We are very faithful to the designers we have worked with all these years and we still have most of the twelve we started with. The key factor to selection is that I have to personally like the pieces, the designer’s creative space and be a good fit with him or her. I, of course, look into the quality of the work and materials, the creative vision and the coherence with our other designers. I spend a lot of time searching on social media, above all on Instagram, but I also travel as much as I can to the stores who sell fine jewelry in cities such as London, New York or Tokyo. Our prices? We start with our in-house brand White Bird Bijoux at 100 euros and go up to quite high prices with Fernando Jorge or Cathy Waterman with beautiful pieces exceeding 10,000 euros. But let’s say that the core of our business is between 500 and 5,000 euros. We sell mainly fine jewelry because this is my background. However, we have a few silver and vermeil lines such as Charlotte Chesnais, Sophie Buhai or Stephanie Schneider for her beautiful handwoven chains, which are simply works of art. Our business model is a well-balanced mix of traditional sales, pop-up events and trunk shows that are a great opportunity to discover more jewels from a designer. We also work a lot with the press to promote our designers even if we are not advertisers. But we have built good relationships and manage to have regular coverage in France and abroad for our designers that come from Greece, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, the USA, and Japan. The designers are all in our brick-and-mortar stores and e-shop and I think both are really helping each other. The brick-and-mortar builds our image and allows our customers to try on the pieces before buying them, especially for engagement rings. The website is our door to the world and our live catalog. The future? I would love a store in London.»