“Genius is something others don’t have”: Jean Dinh Van, the man who broke the chains of jewelry, celebrated in Paris

A few months ago, in anticipation of the 60th anniversary of the Dinh Van brand , its general manager, Astrid de Montlivault, submitted a request to the Paris Centre town hall to have a plaque hung in memory of its founder, Jean Dinh Van, on Place Gaillon, where he set up his workshop in 1965. The idea was approved by the town council and the plaque will be sealed in the coming weeks. "It made me happy for him," admits his wife, Marie-Françoise Dinh Van, who lived with him for forty years (until his death in 2022 ), and who almost never spoke to the press. "I thought that he, who didn't like awards and had refused the Legion of Honor several times, would have been flattered there... "

What would he have thought, moreover, that an exhibition would be dedicated to him from September 3 to 13 at Christie's in Paris ? And that a monograph, the first so exhaustive and richly illustrated, would be published on September 10 by Flammarion? He would have...