Marie Lichtenberg’s exquisitely worked Love Lockets are some of the most covetable and original jewels around. Sadly, they are amongst the most-copied; Instagram abounds with Lichtenberg-lite fakes and jewels ‘inspired by’ the brand. After a succession of breathtaking high jewelry pieces, including the Magic Ball that debuted at Couture last month, the Paris-based designer’s latest launch is about taking back control of her aesthetic.
Raiz’in is a line of lockets created with the same exacting standards as the originals, produced at a lower price point. Exit 18kt gold, silk mauli cord and diamonds, and enter food-grade glitter resin, polyester cord and hand-strung resin beads, for charm-decked lockets that are every bit as collectable as their hand-enameled big sisters and still made “primarily by hand” in Europe. The line went live on Friday and by Sunday evening, the first drop of four colorways had sold out, testament to the reach and appeal of one of the most original and exacting contemporary jewelry brands around.
Lichtenberg describes the line as “the first original Marie Lichtenberg copy”. “We wanted it to be as close to our fine jewelry as possible, in terms of craftsmanship and image. Raiz’In is a brand in its own right, we will eventually have a resin version of each of our bestsellers.” In the flesh, Lichtenberg’s famously high standards are tangible; the lockets feel weighty and design is considered. Although they are aimed at a younger target, the inherent stackability and addictiveness of the product will undoubtedly see them borrowed by hip moms.
The move came after her recent success at The Couture Show, the industry-leading jewelry and gem fair, from which she walked away with the Best in Innovative award for the Magic Ball, a collaboration with Mattel inspired by the classic Magic 8 Ball© toy and executed with her signature stellar engineering. Lichtenberg had the idea for the necklace —a gold and enamel orb housing the same mechanism as the originals, which provides a cryptic ‘answer’ to a question when shaken —a year ago and left no stone unturned in finding the right contact to ask for the toy company’s blessing – which duly came “because we had bothered to ask,” marking Mattel’s first jewlery collaboration of its kind.
Elsewhere, a diamond-rimmed Evil Eye pendant houses a tiny sapphire ball that the wearer can roll into a well in the center, the inventive gemstone-set equivalent of the classic children’s toy, rings and lockets spring open to reveal surprises inside, often set en trembleuse. Graceful twists of careful – and technically tricky – enamel and diamonds spiral down the candy cane necklaces, and a tactile checkerboard of diamonds and rubies glitter on a locket and scapular necklace, set in Italy. For each new expertise she requires, Lichtenberg makes it a point of principle to search out the highest examples of craftsmanship in the world for her highly engineered and supremely playful jewels
Counterfeiting has plagued Marie Lichtenberg since she started her brand four years ago. “This was the only intelligent response possible,” she tells me. “Counterfeiting feels like a violation, for a designer, it’s very personal; shocking and horrible. I feel lucky to have had the means to defend myself legally, but it has been both tiresome and galvanizing,” she says of the fakes that sprang up in countries into which her business had not even had a chance to penetrate, and which in the end, contributed to the product’s now-iconic status.
A portion of the proceeds from the new line will go to the Rafaël Institute in Paris, the leading European center for integrative medecine, dedicated to supporting patients and their caregivers during and after cancer treatment. As Lichtenberg says, “we have been very lucky to have had so much support since the beginning of the brands and have the potential to make a lot of money for good causes. For once, the money from counterfeit goods will go towards something other than terrorism and drug deals.”
The next drop of Raiz’In lockets will be available online at and at Bon Marché department store in Paris.
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