Frédérique Dessemond

Some brands are born from a strategy. GINETTE NY was born from an intuition, a persistent and luminous desire to make things beautiful. Before creating jewelry, Frédérique Dessemond was giving a new life to vintage furniture and found objects: pieces thought to have reached the end of their story, revived through a fresh perspective. This language of transformation would become the brand’s signature.

Her sensitivity took root in Marseille, where she grew up from an early age in Le Corbusier’s iconic Cité Radieuse. From this world of harmonious proportions and pure lines, she inherited a taste for simplicity. Later, a background in art history further shaped an independent eye, free from the constraints of traditional industry codes. It was precisely this freedom that would spark her revolution.

In the late 1990s, Frédérique moved to New York. Immersing herself in the city, she customized vintage clothing and bags while observing the women around her. A simple desire became an obvious vision: she dreamed of wearing gold every day, just as the women she had known in her childhood did, yet nothing like it was accessible. In 2002, there was no such offering. Frédérique created it.

Without formal jewelry training, she turned to findings, the components jewelers use to create their pieces: wires, tubes, and gold discs. She imagined the Disc: a polished gold circle pierced with two holes through which a chain slides, engraved with the initials of the woman who wears it. A piece of radical simplicity, intimate and accessible. The entire DNA of the brand was already there: precious without ostentation, beauty as a second skin, individuality. Then came the Circle, a delicate gold wire gently marked by time, “it’s our life,” she says.

The story unfolded boldly. Spotted at a New York designers’ trade show, where she won a competition that earned her her first booth, Frederique received her first orders and opened her first boutique. She soon joined forces with Anne Hugard, who initially came on board as a sales representative before becoming her “indispensable”, later her business partner, and always her friend. Their partnership built on trust allowed Frédérique to devote her energy and talent to creation.

In 2010, GINETTE NY reached a new milestone with the introduction of gemstones. By setting stones directly against the skin, Frederique imagined jewelry that, beyond being beautiful, could also bring comfort and well-being. Natural stones, never exactly alike, allow every woman to find her own. Jewelry became a reassuring presence, a companion one never takes off, “If I forget my ring, I have a bad day,” her clients tell her, a tribute she considers the greatest of all.

More than twenty years later, GINETTE NY shines internationally, worn by women of every generation. Frederique Dessemond speaks not of “collections” but of intentions, drawing inspiration from the energy of New York, a culture that celebrates beauty and encourages people to aspire higher. Her philosophy echoes a phrase she cherishes from Le Corbusier: “There is never a worse time without a better time to follow,” and a motto embodied by the brand itself: “Life is a dance.” We laugh, we cry, we rise, we fall; the key is to find the rhythm and dance together.