French émigré Frédérique Dessemond moved to New York after studying art history to launch a fine jewelry collection in 2002 that blended her past and her future. Combining an old French name with her adopted city, Dessemond sought to combine the chic attitude of French style with the easy, casual air of her new home, resulting in a new kind of everyday luxury. Over the course of a decade, Dessemond has refined her point of view with lavish semi-precious stones, dainty diamonds, and minimal metal accents to create something that is neither continental, nor American; rather, it's something totally new.