POOR MOUCHETTE : A JEWEL BOX IN THE CULTURAL DISTRICT

 

Poor Mouchette’s Madison Street shop is a personally curated collection of antique and vintage fine jewelry, living alongside a spattering of our own, locally made designs. The collection reflects its curator’s taste for unique, soulful objects— for made things that speak to a time and place, and somehow also stand outside of time. We are lovers of the natural world, of fine, deliberate craft, and of the tension that is created when these cohere.

A little jewelry box in its own right, our bright, street-level gallery holds rings, bracelets, lockets, brooches, and earrings that speak from many different design perspectives— from challenging, futuristic modernism, to clean minimalist designs, to the sentimental jewelry of the Georgians and Victorians. These jewels, that were once connected to an other, can now connect to you, and (in the future) to another human animal. We think the way these objects of beauty endure, beyond us, is inspiring, magical, and a little bit heartbreaking.

Poor Mouchette is woman-owned, and owner-operated. We are firm believers in the superior ethics of secondary markets, and of sustainable, handmade jewelry that supports the work of individual makers and designers. Our in-house designs are always made by local artisans, using recycled materials and thoughtfully-sourced gems. Our antique and vintage jewelry is sourced piece-by-piece, on a small scale.

Mouchette is a French diminutive meaning “little fly.” The word references the 1967 film by Robert Bresson, and the preceding novel by George Bernanos. It also pays homage to the housefly itself, the humblest of creatures and an enduring reminder that life is fleeting and precious— memento mori.