Jill Martinelli and Sabine Le Guyader met while studying Sculpture and Metals at Massachusetts College of Art, and quickly bonded over their paralleled backgrounds in the dental industry- each had learned the basics of jewelry making while working in prosthetic dentistry and orthodontics as teenagers. In contrast with their one-of-a-kind, gallery-minded curriculum, the girls aimed to create a fashion forward jewelry collection that would bring their progressive design philosophies to the ready-to-wear market. In 2007 they moved to New York to follow this dream. Lady Grey released their first collection in 2009, and within just months it had been featured in worldwide publications including ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, W, and Vogue Japan, and launched with the most coveted retail outlets such as Bergdorf Goodman and Selfridges. That same year, Lady Grey brought home Gen Art’s “Designer of the Year” International award in accessories. The designers retain the signature Lady Grey aesthetic through their distinctive use of materials and bold structures, steadily evolving with each collection. Taking inspiration everywhere from Equestrian hardware to Futurist Architecture and Egyptian symbolism, Lady Grey consistently reveal a fresh approach to adornment with every season. By recreating traditional “bezel” settings as subjective vessels with hand-crushed semiprecious stone inlay- the designers transform how we typically understand the roles of precious stones, challenging their traditional purpose and use. Their balance of beauty and bravado, with ingenuity and wear-ability, has garnered Lady Grey focused attention from top publications such as The New York Times and Vogue magazine. Lady Grey is currently selling in over 30 luxury retail locations worldwide, throughout the U.S., United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia.
