JEWELS
Isleña from Paris
Writer and photographer, Axelle is also a jewel designer.
She starts making necklaces, bracelets and earings for herself when she’s at university, in Paris. Her friends ask her to sell them some, but she never thought about making this personal pleasure a job.
After a few lives, she decides to create jewels again during Spring 2017, when she discovers this beautiful island called Menorca (Baleares, Spain).
Two months after she started creating jewels again, Axelle finds a store in Maón (Menorca), another one in Barcelona and organizes two showrooms in Paris: in six months, Isleña Jewellery was born !
Isleñas are women from the islands, in Spanish. It's the way people she met on the island would call her after a very little while, and as she felt at home on this piece of land, she decided to turn the wor(l)d into her jewels' brand.
Mixing two languages was natural to this new adventure... handmade in France and on the road between Paris and Spain.
A concept ? More a way of doing things : with love and care and for every woman as for herself.
Each Isleña Jewel is a unique piece, carefully handmade with semi-precious stones and without any allergen material or nickel.
A leitmotiv ? Dreams don't work unless you do !
After all Isleña's story is nothing else but a way to make a dream come true : Axelle was thinking about living on an island, and wondering how she could make a living in such a paradise...
Now ? Well future is now.
So Axelle just finished her first novel, and still travels in order to find galleries to represent her photography and artworks, as well as new stores to welcome Isleña Jewellery...
About Axelle Emden - Bio
Born and raised in Paris, Axelle Emden is a writer, photographer and multimedia artist, as well as a jewel-designer. Out of the box creative thinker, sometimes lyricist or curator, her atypical path reflects her multiple talents and interests, as well as her strong commitment to make things happen. After a dozen of years spent between Research and Journalism, she decides to dedicate herself to fiction writing and photography around 30. Being fully committed to her creativity naturally lead her to art direction and... jewel design.
WRITING WOR(L)DS
Research & Journalism
Axelle studied Philosophy and Political Science in Paris (EHESS, Sciences-Po), made a little stop in the U.S. (Boston College, 2003) and worked as a Teacher Assistant for Alain Touraine in Sociology (CADIS-CNRS).
Her main themes of research were media and democracy, liberalism, and the French and American models. In Sociology, she worked on women with Alain Touraine, who's convinced that women were pioneers in today and tomorrow's lifestyles (to make it short).
Early doer, Axelle starts as a journalist at 19 at the Figaro and will write for the French New Economist and a variety of magazines (Culture, Inquiries, Lifestyle columns).
Entrepreneur, she creates her own webmag dedicated to cultural events in 2008, that she’ll run for three years while living between Paris and Marseille.
The experience leads her to become an occasional curator (Private Art Room, Village Royal) and to be part of a jury, for the first Eurazeo Photo Price. She also gave a few classes to future journalists, dedicated to journalistic digital challenges (IPJ, Paris).
As a writer, Axelle also worked for companies, communication agencies, galleries, artists and institutions. By writing catalogues, books or digital contents, she finds a way to finance her online magazine, that she closes in 2011 to dedicate herself to Photography.
Secret poet, she signs a few lyrics for Elodie Ruillier (album Affranchie, 2007).
She is also co-author of three books published by YB Editions and dedicated to Maria Callas, Steve McQueen and Audrey Hepburn (YB Editions, collection « Les Images d’une vie »).
Since a few years, she mainly writes behind lenses. Quitting journalism actually allowed her to finish her first novel, and she's now looking for a publisher.
"I guess I've always done the same, telling stories, no matter if it was reality or fictions, no matter if it's behind lenses or with a pen, no matter if it was published or not, in newspapers or in books, I'm just a story-teller."
Commissioned for portraits as well as for reports or lifestyle photos, Axelle works for a variety of clients, including brands, TV shows and artists. She's been working in many different fields (wellness, food, culture, movies, nightlife) and... that's what she loves about being a photographer.
Creative thinker, Axelle especially collaborates with a few singer-songwriters, as a photographer and art director since 2014 (LOD, Alone & Me).
Definitely in love with art and creators, Axelle initiates a few Collective Projects since 2013, with painters, photographers, musicians and lyricists. One of them, MaïAx, with MaïMysia, has been shown in Paris.
Multimedia artist, she likes using manual as digital tools to create collages, paintings and other pieces mixing medias. Some have been shown in France since 2015 and in Spain since 2016.
Her experience in the digital field and her artistic skills also lead her to be a consultant for a few brands as well as a graphic designer and a creative director .
Hard to classify, Axelle’s personal productions include sev-eral series around flesh and the body and a variety of "daily travel books". Words are also very present in her imagery - she sometimes calls herself an "illustwriter".
Her documentary photography projects shows a special interest for Human Rights, as her reports, in women issues and LGBT rights. The way globalization has changed the world is another theme she can't help herself to show.
View her Photography works : www.axelle-emden.fr
IMAGES
Photography & Art Direction
As a photographer, Axelle starts around 2007 after she got her first Reflex and while traveling - China, Morocco, Egypt, Europe.
She publishes a few photos during her journalistic years, but really starts professional photography in 2012-2013, mainly on short films' sets.
She got several exhibitions since 2014, in Paris, Barcelona and Miami.
