At eighteen, she designed costume jewelry; at twenty, she was famous in Paris and then around the world because she created buttons that were each an object, a piece of jewelry, a work of art.
Her little boutique on Faubourg Saint Honoré is always busy. People copy her, envy her, and snap up her first earrings, powder compacts with cryptic designs. In the great shortage of raw materials that followed the war, she searched relentlessly and discovered a resin-based material, which she patented and which could be molded to her every whim. But she shied away from a future devoted solely to the glory of the button: she loved things that were large, and people wanted to confine her to the palm of their hand. She then turned her attention to decorative objects. She left the Right Bank and moved to Rue de l'Université. Fascinated by mirrors, she created extraordinary ones that she set in precious frames, sparkling with shards of ice.
1988 – David Gill Gallery, London
1990 – Comme des Garçons, Tokyo
1992 - Grand Prix des Métiers d'Art
1993 - Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters
1995 - Gallery des Hauses Bergdorf Goodman, New-York
1998 - Galerie Aline Chastel - Laurent Maréchal, Paris
1999 - Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris
2015 - Christie's sale, Paris
We always find her personal symbolism in her objects (suns, planets, cosmic games, or more modest evocations of trees, flowers, or leaves). And her creations always remain optimistic and invigorating. There is a richness of expression in them that sometimes goes against the grain of the times. Line Vautrin remained aloof from fashions, which she mistrusted. Among 20th-century objects, hers undoubtedly occupy a special place: precious like jewels, composed like works of art, they are the offspring of a given material and technique. This is what makes them profoundly original.
"What more can I say, except that I love renewal, that it corresponds to my inner life?"
