Marie Lichtenberg turns sports pennants into heirloom pendants

Marie Lichtenberg has turned the sports pennant into something you could actually wear every day: a small, symbolic pendant that reads more like a keepsake than a novelty. The Fanions, unveiled at the Couture show during Las Vegas Jewelry Week, tap into the pull of athletic iconography without losing the designer’s instinct for heirloom jewelry, which is where the collection becomes more interesting than a simple nod to team spirit.

The pieces are built in 18-karat gold and set with sapphire and ruby, then pushed further with ceramic, a material Marie Lichtenberg has never used before. That addition matters. Ceramic brings a sharper, more contemporary edge to a vocabulary that already depends on color, surface and the compact scale of a pendant meant to sit close to the body. In the right light, the mix feels less like costume jewelry and more like a miniature object with enough construction to survive repeated wear and enough visual force to hold its own in a layered chain stack.

The name itself sharpens the concept. Fanion is the French word for pennant, and that French lens is central to the appeal. Lichtenberg, a Paris-based former fashion editor, has built her jewelry around symbolism, irreverence and careful making, and the Fanions fit squarely inside that language. Her brand, which formally began in 2019 after a trip to India helped set up her manufacturing relationships, has always treated jewelry as a carrier of memory rather than a blank slate for monograms or zodiac signs.

That is what gives these pendants their staying power. Lichtenberg’s work draws on heirloom thinking and talismanic motifs, with design roots that stretch from her mother’s Martinican influences to the traditions of Indian jewelry making. The result is jewelry that feels personal without becoming precious in the wrong way. In a market crowded with initials and easy symbolism, the Fanions land as a sharper proposition: a sporty shape, a French translation, and a handmade object with enough character to read as collectible from the start.