If diamonds are forever, stunning and supremely talented fine-jewellery designer Alysia Yip-Hoi Martin is graced with goddess-like eternalness.
Alysia channels her otherworldly gifts into her eponymous jewellery line, Maison Alysia, a best-kept secret of the Montreal fashion elite—a you-know-if-you-know (ykiyk) fashion house for the super luxe. Her beguilingly beautiful jewels shine with opulence thanks to her using only solid gold and platinum and the finest ethically sourced stones. Yet the contemporary nowness and edgy halo effect that illuminate her pieces are thanks to her incredible out-of-this-world knack for redefining classics for the future.
Her latest Maison Alysia collection takes the sensibility of old regal heirlooms and updates them with fresh design. An ethos of sustainability threads it together and adds an enduring soul. “We have to consider sustainability these days. And unlike transient clothes or furniture, you can reuse stones and gold, and it’s the same stones and gold your mother held close to her heart—and then someday your kid can attach their own memories to it,” she says.
Many Maison Alysia pieces are made-to-order for the company’s haute-flying, ultra-stylish clientele, eager to revive a gem they scooped up on an exotic excursion or who want to reinvigorate an emerald or diamond keepsake from deep inside their jewellery collection with Alysia’s ultra-cool glisten.
Fortunately for non-heirs, Alysia’s sultry and sophisticated Berceau collection pieces can also be bought on MaisonAlysia.com—only these one-off, gasp-worthy originals sell out almost immediately, though they can be custom made in a similar inspiration. Pieces include vintage brooches refashioned as a genius ultra-hip “Firefly” double-ring worn on two fingers. One spear is set with an amethyst stone, the other with aquamarine. This not-quite-matching “sisters-not-twins” asymmetry is a common theme in her pieces.
Other Maison Alysia designs are made from new materials yet still have the quality of an heirloom that’s been masterfully up-leveled. One stunner necklace features an emerald-hued mythical glass cameo floating in a skeleton setting of recycled 18-karat gold and seemingly hanging on by a thread, perched onto a weightless swing. The fluidity, mobility, and delicateness of her designs are a counterpoint to the richness of her materials. And the edgy youthfulness of, say, her Quis paperclip-style bracelet gives her collection an ultramodern look. But again, it’s Alysia’s je-ne-sais-quoi larger-than-life halo effect that gives the collection a coveted air of timelessness redefined.
Mysterious as it is, what I can say for sure, being blessed to call Alysia a close friend, is that her shimmering influence—along with her creativity, talent, hilarious wit, and super-pumping heart—graces everything in her sphere beyond jewellery design. She’s married to a most wonderful and super-kind husband and is the proudest mom of two beautiful girls. And Alysia’s prestigious philanthropic contributions reveal how generous and diverse she is with her talents. She’s a board director of the Opéra de Montréal and a board director of the Visual Art Center. She’s a member of the Decorative Arts Acquisitions Committee and Executive Committee of the “Women of Influence” circle at the Musée des Beaux-Arts (MMFA). And she’s also co-chair of the Kahnawà:ke Cultural Arts Cabinet and also on the Women’s Committee of Centraide.
She’s both well-educated and a natural ambidextrous flamethrower. Her M.F.A. in Industrial and Furniture Design is from Accademia Italiana in Florence, and her B.F.A. is in Sculpture at Concordia. Her seamless move from furniture designer to fine jewellery designer was thanks to the well-trained eye of illustrious Montreal jeweller Eric Goldberg of Atelier Lou. He saw the potential in Alysia’s fashion and furniture design aesthetic and offered her an opportunity to design a collection. She nailed it with her beloved capsule collection, which included a saucy horn-shaped ear pin and circular spinner rings where wearers could alter the position.
Her latest Maison Alysia designs are even more lyrical. “It’s chapters, it’s characters, it’s plots,” she says of her revival pieces. Then she recounts the story of a personal gift she designed for her mother-in-law. It was a brooch she’d inherited from her grandmother-in-law, repurposed into a ring with diamonds. “She shows everybody in her family; do you remember this brooch? Then she tells stories about the jeweller that she and her mom used to buy from.”
And that’s how Alysia’s goddess-like talents flow. She takes the light within her and reshapes tarnished gold so that it shines anew. And from there, she pushes it forward into forever.
For more on Alysia and Maison Alysia, visit maisonalysia.com.
