Prounis
The Golden Tapestry
Prounis Jewelry was founded by designer Jean Prounis in homage to her ancestry. Her great-grandfather, Otto Prounis, was the co-proprietor of the Versailles, a celebrated 1940s nightclub across from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The Versailles was known for its fashionable crowd—Texas Guinan, Perry Como, and Dean Martin among them—and performers like chanteuse Edith Piaf, who made her US debut there in 1949. The club was resplendent with the era’s finery of custom silver, sage green silk, embroidered linens, and hand-gouched menus.
Key Piece
The Nona
Made in 22K Gold with diamond shaped granulated links, the Nona Necklace is named after the Latin “Nona,” meaning “having nine,” denoting the number of granules in each link. The necklace is finished with a Mycenae-inspired fibula clasp, hand-wrought using ancient goldsmithing techniques and responsibly-sourced materials.
Editorial
A Legacy
A legacy of fine objects and art deco artifacts made its way into the Prounis family home where Jean, as a child, grew up among them. In addition to the Versailles archive, Jean’s grandfather, an ardent bibliophile, kept a collection of tomes on ancient Greco-Roman art and antiquities. Even before she could read, Jean shared in her grandfather’s passion for beauty in objects.
