Prounis is a story of ancient tomes and artifacts
Jean Prounis
About
Jean Prounis founded her eponymous brand in 2017 to create thoughtful jewelry with reverence to history. Inspired by her Greek heritage and by the visual language of her great-grandparents’ New York nightclub, the Versailles, Prounis designs are an ode to origins.
Inspired by art forms from across the ancient world and crafted with contemporary details, each piece is handwrought in signature recycled 22-karat gold and finished with sustainably and responsibly sourced gemstones, diamonds, pearls, and corals.
Shaped alongside expert craftspeople in Manhattan’s Jewelry District, Prounis’s museum-quality modern heirlooms preserve the integrity of handmade jewelry in New York City. Formed with purpose, Prounis objects accumulate life’s knicks and imprints over the years, becoming part of the wearer’s own legacy.
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THE VERSAILLES
In the 1940s, Otto Prounis was co-proprietor of the Versailles, a celebrated nightclub across from the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City. French chanteuse Edith Piaf made her U.S. debut there in 1949, and the club was frequented by a fashionable crowd, including the likes of Texas Guinan, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. The Old New York finery of the Versaille lives on in Prounis’s visual and material language; inspired by the custom silver, sage green silks, embroidered linens, and hand-gouache menus that defined it.
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