Spirituality does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation.
Everything beauty has taught me, and continues to teach me,
strengthens my belief in the continuity of our organic selves after eternal rest.
Fusing the spirit and harmony of Zen philosophy
with technical skill and contemporary design,
Marijoli creates elegant and inspired jewellery
to express your individual style
2005
The beginning……After graduating from the Lausanne ECAL for ‘Beaux Arts’™, designer Marielle Byworth spent a year in London living with her new family the Byworth'™s. Her two new brother in-laws, jewellery designers and traders would often consult her in the creation of new pieces. It was these conversations and debates that echoed in the early days of looking out over the Tokyo skyline…
2006
July 2006 saw the creation of the MARIJOLI company and quickly things started to snowball; Miss Universe Japan started to use MARIJOLI in style shoots, magazines requested interviews with Marielle and celebrities as widely reknowned as Nelly Furtado, Madonna, Kate Moss, and China Forbes all became fans. And in September of that year the brand was launched officially in Tokyo during fashion week hot on the heels of a catwalk show and after party called ‘Summer, hit me’™ where MARIJOLI launched their minicapsule bikini that was produced in Brazil.
2007
2007 was the year of collaborations, both in collections and design launch parties. First up was ‘Party in the Flower’™, a collaboration with the celebrity designer and artist Takako Ikehata held in Mado Lounge, the 52 Floor and highest club in all of Tokyo. The show featured the usual fashion show with seven beautiful Japanese models, and several 100 inch plasmas displaying the history up of MARIJOLI up until then. That was followed by the largest collaboration to date, the MA&MA swimwear line which was created with MariaH designer Maria Heitanen, and was quickly taken up by Japanese department stores Isetan and United Arrows. The launch party for MA&MA coincided with Tokyo fashion week and sold out the MaChambre nightclub (logo design and name created by Marielle) which opened a few months before. Post these two shows, the collaborations started coming thicker and faster with talents as varied as Julien David, Olivier Schawalder, Ricci K, Kaori Kasso, and Antoine Wagner. Towards the end of the year MARIJOLI\'™s first website was launched in tandem with a blog called MAbackstage and a facebook fan page which followed the escapades of the star of the show, Marielle Byworth, as well as providing invitations to the future parties that were due to launch the products around the world. On top of this a second line of jewellery was launched expanding on the signature line of Elema, to include earrings and rings for the first time.
2008
At the beginning of 2008, Marielle decided to dig deeper into her spiritual side. Separating herself from the trappings of the party lifestyle, she isolated herself for four months to embark on an intensive yoga program that she followed to yogi status. This gave her the opportunity to centre her activity and find clarity in her direction. Feeling refreshed and intensely more spiritual, Marielle started work on the new catalogue for MARIJOLI with the theme ‘Pure of Spirit’™. Even a catalogue needs a launch party and this was held at the Swiss Embassy as it had been a collaboration with Swiss stylist Olivier Schwalder and Japanese photographer Namiko Kitaura under the art direction of Yuko Watanabe. The after party was recorded and broadcasted on FTV at “le Baron de Paris” in Omotesando and on the party scene pages of NUMERO magazine. The year ended with a collaboration with Abilgail Terrien on a line of baby bracelets for kids, distribution on the new online shop called Abiloves.
2009
By 2009, things really were starting to take shape. You can now find MARIJOLI jewellery in concept stores in Geneva, Paris, London, San Diego and Istanbul as well as many outlets in Tokyo including the world reknowned Restir, Beams and Tomorrowland. The team continues to grow the effort and the brand globally as well as add another brand this year, ‘Marielle Byworth’™ which looks back to the roots of MARIJOLI working initially on a bespoke basis. The first line of which was commissioned by the new department store in Hong Kong ‘Brother & Sister’™, melding funky style with the traditional elegance of MARIJOLI, and has already been a huge hit with MARIJOLI'™s previous clients. The Christmas launch of designers Entourage in Beirut will stock Marielle Byworth and MARIJOLI collection and will be the main point of distribution into the whole of the Middle East. Marielle Byworth is now exceptionally well positioned for a global recovery… Happy Holidays
2010
2010 started with a bang, with a collaboration party with Chivas whiskey in Zurich. As a result Marielle Byworth and MARIJOLI can now be found in ‘Lovers Lane’™ in Zurich. Across the pond, ‘Items’™ based in the heart of Soho is the latest outlet in New York stocking both brands….As the year began, Marielle Byworth, designer and founder of the two brands fell pregnant, and decided to take time out from the coalface. Starting in the heart of the Hong Kong summer, Marielle went back to school and completed her Graduate Gemologist from the GIA in Diamonds. She also completed on the Institute'™s Jewellery Design course, as she looks to incorporate more important stones into the Marielle Byworth line. The year ended with the arrival of bonnie little son and a new line to celebrate, check the webshop for further details.
2011
Marielle found her pace this year, having built a strong base of experience in every element of jewellery production, she now took a step back and with mature eyes viewed the landscape of her market. While it had been fun appealing to the party girls, Marielle was growing too and this started to translate into higher end pieces and with it the launch of Marielle Byworth for MARIJOLI, her higher end brand. The first sample the public had of this more important brand was at the March HK jewellery fair and at a private VIP showing at the upper house with the launch of her largest piece to date the MASWAN necklace. MARIJOLI, the younger more ‘fashion’™ brand is now fully available online, and participates regularly in pop up shops, last year in NUDE is RUDE and Rue Madame both in Hong Kong. The focus for Marielle now? Mainly private commissions, engagement rings, push gifts, or just that special occasion where only the most exquisite and original piece will suffice.
2012
This year, we took part in the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France with the Marielle Byworth collection in partnership with Quintessentially atop of the Marriott Hotel. Many of the pieces were used in styling sessions dressing celebrities for the red carpet up to the AMFAR dinner in Cap D'Antibes. In a collaboration with COS [the high-end brand of H&M] for the launch of their first flagship store in Hong Kong, Marielle created a one of a kind ring [Mautilus] inspired by what is the brand essence of COS. The ring made of 18k gold with diamonds was exhibited at the Perrotin gallery. Apart from that we continue our collaboration with POP UP store in St Tropez [the space] and Hong Kong [popupstore]. It was also productive year in Marielle's personal life with the birth of little Aya who was born under the sun of Clearwater bay.
2013
Saw MARIJOLI being selected to participate in the PMQ project, an incubation program subsidised by HK government for young and upcoming designers in Hong Kong to go retail. The launch of MARIJOLI's retail space in PMQ is due in April 2014, so this year was focused on re-designing our brand DNA and website to be ready for our grand opening. 2013 also saw the launch of Coffee Talk, one of our new programs where Marielle works directly with a client to create a bespoke piece either from scratch or from a piece that the client already owns and wants to restyle. We ended the year with our usual Christmas sale at the Kee club and a POPUP store at the space [Hong Kong this time] where we had great response from our clients telling us their needs and wishes for the new year!
2014
As the MARIJOLI aesthetic evolves it enters a new era with the opening of its first boutique, located in the newly redeveloped Married Police Headquarters on Hollywood Rd. Designed to reflect the philosophy A of the brand, the bijou boutique will be a more than a showcase for the MARIJOLI collection. Imbued with the spirit of 17th century Paris salons, the shop will also be a space of inspiration, creativity and beauty. A Nestled under bell jars will be A “cabinet of curiosities” display of jewellery creations, while works from local and international artists will adorn the walls for special in-shop exhibitions to provide yet another source of inspiration for clientele.
2015
Marielle Byworth for MARIJOLI Launches the ‘AYA Collection’ Contemporary fine jewellery featuring Scarselli coloured diamonds. The new line of jewellery, which is named after the designer’s 2-year-old daughter Aya, quietly references the MARIJOLI founder's passion for elegantly simple, harmonious designs that reference the spiritual elements of Zen philosophy. “The encounter with Scarselli was a real turning point for the brand. Integrating rare coloured diamonds is very exciting and allows our very wearable designs to extend into fine jewellery for the modern woman who is looking to express her own personal style and individuality," says Byworth. The diamonds were handpicked for their unusual colour by the imaginative designer who plays with their distinctive tones to highlight architectural sculptural shapes and add an artisan spirit.
MARIJOLI is jewellery that plays with the tension between contrasts. These are beautiful wearable art pieces that embody a philosophy and lifestyle espousing simplicity yet richness, that borrow from history as much as modernity, and are delicate as much as they are avant-garde.
Having launched her collection in 2005 in Tokyo where she was based at the time, the young, dynamic, Swiss-born jeweller, Marielle Byworth, rapidly created a cult following for her unique easily identifiable signature Elema collection and its organic shapes.
Since then she had pushed the boundaries of jewellery design with her unorthodox combinations of precious and semi-precious stones and modern materials, which have made her pieces highly coveted staples for women internationally- from her home city of Hong Kong, to the red carpet of Cannes. Diamonds are combined with black vinyl, rubies are paired with wood, and coloured stones are layered atop leather to create a look of modern elegance. Fusing influences from her childhood in Switzerland, the urban environment of her former home in Tokyo and elements of Asian spiritual philosophy, each piece of MARIJOLI jewellery is a work of inspiration and imagination.
Trained at the Graphic Art School of Swiss Romande (ERAG) and the University of Art and Design of Lausanne, Switzerland (ECAL), Marielle has an eye for detail and technical perfection while always maintaining functionality and emphasizing the beauty of design.
Since moving to HK, Marielle has focused on bespoke requests. Aligning well with her theory that jewellery should be unique and personalised Marielle has now launch the higher end brand Marielle Byworth for MARIJOLI, this brand now focuses on capturing clients emotions and desires in unique pieces and also unique lines for concept stores across the world.
