Chanel names Marie-Laure Cérède to lead jewelry design studio

Chanel has tapped Marie-Laure Cérède to lead its jewelry design studio, bringing a designer with Cartier and Harry Winston pedigree into the house’s most symbolic address in Paris. The appointment, set for October 2026, looks less like a routine personnel change than a bid to give Chanel jewelry a deeper emotional register, one built on motifs, milestones, and pieces meant to outlast a season.

That ambition starts at 18 Place Vendôme, where Chanel houses its Watches and Fine Jewelry operations, along with the Creation Studios, High Jewelry workshop, Patrimoine, and boutique. Chanel bought the building in 1997, and the address has long served as the stage for its most serious jewelry ambitions. It is also where the house says its high jewelry is brought to life by artisans, from the first sketch through the search for exceptional gemstones and the final production. Coco Crush, one of Chanel’s signature fine-jewelry lines, already shows how the house translates identity into design, using the quilted motif that has been an emblem of Chanel since 1955.

Cérède’s background explains why her arrival matters. Industry coverage says she spent 14 years at Harry Winston, then became Cartier’s creative director of jewelry and watchmaking in 2016, a role she held until earlier in 2026. That is an unusually potent combination for Chanel: Harry Winston’s reputation for stones and Cartier’s mastery of symbol-rich, instantly legible design. If Chanel wants jewelry that feels less like a logo and more like a keepsake, that pedigree gives the house a vocabulary for romance, memory, and inheritance.

The timing also fits Chanel’s wider business story. In its 2025 results, the company said growth across all business activities was driven by exceptional creative momentum, pointing to the Chanel 25 handbag, Chance Eau Splendide fragrance, and J12 Bleu watch. Chanel also said it made unprecedented investments in savoir-faire and client experience. Bringing Cérède into the jewelry studio extends that momentum into a category where the strongest pieces are not just worn, but marked, remembered, and passed on.

For a house with Bijoux de Diamants, Mademoiselle Chanel’s first high jewelry collection from 1932, the move suggests a return to jewelry as identity-making rather than simply status signaling. Under Cérède, Chanel has a chance to make Place Vendôme feel not only prestigious, but personal.