Creative Mind: Elie Top
The trailblazing French designer is known for his striking pieces that blend Art Deco and Baroque styles with a contemporary twist
Elie Top approaches each piece of jewelry like an architect. “Everything I do is about system and structure,” says the trailblazing French designer known for his striking pieces that blend Art Deco and Baroque styles with a contemporary twist. “The technical challenge is what drives me. Even if I’m designing animal-inspired jewelry, underneath it’s like a cathedral. I am always imagining a little building,” he says.
After nearly 20 years at top fashion houses, first as an illustrator at Yves Saint Laurent and later as a jewelry designer at Lanvin under creative director Alber Elbaz, who empowered him to realize his first jewelry pieces at just 21 years old, Top launched his namesake company in 2015. “Not working with the seasonality of fashion gives me so much more time to refine and develop my ideas,” he says. His signature collections include Magica Naturae, featuring a curious group of fanciful creatures, and most recently, Liaisons Dangereuses, an assortment distinguished by brilliant- and old-cut diamonds suspended in intricate cage-like forms.
After nearly 20 years at top fashion houses, first as an illustrator at Yves Saint Laurent and later as a jewelry designer at Lanvin under creative director Alber Elbaz, who empowered him to realize his first jewelry pieces at just 21 years old, Top launched his namesake company in 2015. “Not working with the seasonality of fashion gives me so much more time to refine and develop my ideas,” he says. His signature collections include Magica Naturae, featuring a curious group of fanciful creatures, and most recently, Liaisons Dangereuses, an assortment distinguished by brilliant- and old-cut diamonds suspended in intricate cage-like forms.
Learning curve: Never formally trained in jewelry, Top studied the craft by voraciously reading books and going through hundreds of old auction catalogues, inventing blind tests for himself to identify makers and eras. “To me, history is food. You need to know the past to be able to do something entirely new. And jewelry has to be relevant for today. It’s my obsession. I want to create things that are bold and wearable and not kept in a safe.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Spring Issue in the section “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.