Supported by the family Parisian Robert Goossens started to perfect his skills in his youth. His father, a bronze caster, worked in a factory in the Marais quarter of Paris. Robert, as an apprentice, designed snuffboxes for Mellerio and engraved Cartier lighters.
The young man always strived to create and be different from others. Inspired by the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, he found in the native Paris everything he needed to reveal all his talents. In 1950 he founded the namesake jewelry house. Robert mastered almost all the techniques of finishing of crystals, metal, wood and leather. His imagination had no boundaries. That is a perfect combination to create timeless masterpieces. The bijous turned out to be slightly raw, but at the same time classy.
By the age of 25, Robert successfully collaborated with such iconic fashion houses as Balenciaga, Schiaparelli, Balmain and Fath. In 1953 he met the legendary Gabrielle Chanel who used to call him “my Byzantine barbarian”. Their meeting marked the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration. After the death of Mademoiselle, in 1971 Goossens continued to create jewelry for the Chanel ready-to-wear and haute couture collections (1980-1990).
Since 1954, Robert had been actively involved in the creation of stunning Byzantine-featured jewelry for the house from rue Cambon (famous address of the Chanel HQ in Paris). Jewelry made by Goossens is a creative tandem of various materials (metal, pearls, Bohemian glass) that allows to combine baroque, Byzantine, antiquity and contemporary lines.
In 1972, the House of Goossens launched an interior design and furniture lines. In 2005, Chanel group acquired Goossens and included it in its prestigious Métiers d’Art. After the death of Robert Goossens in 2016, it’s his son Patrick who inherited the jewelry site, while Robert’s daughter Martin, became in charge of the decor items.
The recent exhibition in the Parisian Fashion Museum [Palais Galliera – Musée de la mode de la ville de Paris] dedicated to Gabrielle Chanel “Manifeste de Mode”, highlights magnificent jewelry imagined by Robert Goossens in his signature style: massive crosses studded with multi-colored gems, cuffs, chains and rings. Not to miss!
