The Story of Floté

Sophie Biscard, founder of Floté

WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF FLOTÉ

Each piece of jewelry is handcrafted with the utmost care. We select genuine freshwater pearls and natural rock crystal: treasures from rivers and the earth.

For millennia, pearls have amazed us. The ancient Greeks believed they were Aphrodite's tears of joy, while Persian poets called them moon seeds. Chinese legends say that pearls fall from the sky when dragons fight in the clouds. Japanese tales speak of the crystallized emotions of mermaids…

They are born from an irritation, growing with luck and time—each pearl is a small miracle of nature. Layer after layer, slowly, luminous beauty emerges. Each pearl is unique; each bears the imprint of its journey.

Real pearls have imperfections, an aura, a grace. Like you.

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My great-grandmother Irénée, a jeweler, wore very large rings, fascinating worlds of diamonds and pearls. She gave her daughter Jacqueline an Art Deco ring on her 18th birthday. It was made of platinum, with a pearl at its center. This ring was passed down to my mother, who in turn gave it to me on my 18th birthday. My first piece of jewelry.

Later, I had the chance to work at Cartier and then at Van Cleef & Arpels, and I got closer to the world's most fabulous stones and pearls, high jewelry treasures. I delved into the great book of jewelry history, that of men and women from all continents, since prehistoric times. Shells and claws, royal tiaras and simple gold rings, maharajahs' necklaces, jewelry made of wood, feathers, turquoise or "toc" (toc means non precious in French but can still be fabulous)

Throughout my travels, I collected stones and jewelry, loving how materials, colors, and styles could mix, the very precious with the very humble.

Floté was born from a desire for simplicity, lightness, and freedom.

Jewelry made of freshwater pearls or rock crystal, carefully strung on very delicate threads, borrowed from Japanese embroiderers and fishermen, creating the impression of drops suspended on the skin. Floating.

Effortless elegance, a combination of the precious and the playful.

Pieces that can be worn from everyday life to celebrations, layered or alone, always with a refreshing lightness.

Light, but not bling.

Softness.

A breath of fresh air in the intensity of our lives...

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Light beauty

&

the beauty of Light

The History of Pearls

Pearls are among the very first gems used by humans, nearly 8,000 years ago. Unlike precious stones that need to be cut and polished, pearls emerge complete. Perfect in their imperfection. Ready. This miracle of nature has fascinated all civilizations, all continents, all ages.

For the ancient Greeks, each pearl was a tear of joy shed by Aphrodite when she emerged from the sea, naked and radiant, carried by the foam of the waves.

In ancient Rome, pearls were worth more than gold and were reserved for the elite. Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) passed laws restricting pearl jewelry to the ruling classes only. Caligula (12-41 AD), in his madness, made his horse a consul adorned with pearls.

Contrary to the contemporary image that associates pearls with femininity, they were long an attribute of male power...

Indian maharajas covered themselves in pearls during ceremonies. The Chinese emperor Qianlong (reigned 1735-1796) wore them in profusion. Charles I of England (1600-1649) wore a pearl on his ear from the age of 15 until his decapitation. And when Elizabeth I went to war against the Spanish Armada in 1588, she created for herself an armour of pearls.

From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, pearls embodied divine and royal power, symbols of purity and absolute wealth.

Eighteenth-century European courts made them their favorite adornment, while the Victorian era associated them with sentiment and refined mourning.

Art Nouveau (1890-1910) revolutionized their use: Lalique celebrated baroque and irregular pearls in organic creations inspired by nature.

Art Deco (1920-1939) transformed them into accessories of modernity—long geometric necklaces worn by the free women of the jazz age.

For centuries, they remained more precious than diamonds, until Mikimoto, in the 1920s, democratized them by inventing cultured pearls...

This allowed Coco Chanel to say, "A woman needs ropes and ropes of pearls," and to create a profusion of pearl jewelry and clothing, mixing cultured and imitation pearls.

And in recent history, you may have in mind the iconic double strands of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis or Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor's fabulous Peregrine pearl... perhaps a string of pearls your mother wore, but also the perfect pearly looks of Harry Styles, A$AP Rocky...

The pearl, humanity's first gem,
is in constant joyful reinvention... it's your turn to play with it!

And for those who want to know more about this long long history...