In Montreal, the journalist Louis-Philippe Messier is mainly on the run, with his office in his backpack, looking for fascinating topics and people. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all areas of life in this city chronicle.
Silver claws, necklaces, septa, earrings: a Montreal workshop supplies gold and silver jewelry for major American productions, including the latest part of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“We have a liaison officer who tells us what the big productions need, she likes us a lot for our gothic and glamorous style,” explains Astrid Apissoghomian, the founder of Inchoo Bijoux.
The 32-year-old graduated from the École de joaillerie de Québec.
Photo Martin Alari
Jeweler Catherine Guindon from Inchoo Bijoux in her workshop.
“Of course, sending me an exact script of the film is out of the question because it’s very secret, but for Wakanda Forever I had a vague description of the scene: magnificent religious ceremony with jewelry in geometric shapes and clean lines, very striking, eye-catching pieces, etc. »
Without attempting to create African jewelry, the designer selected some of her work that met the prop designers’ expectations.
“They kept everything I sent, including the silver claws, which is par for the course given the panther superhero’s feline side. »
“We weren’t allowed to say before release that we were delivering the Wakanda Forever movie. Now we can brag about it all we want! That is our main salary,” says Ms. Apissioghomian happily.
Photo Martin Alari
The jewels are all sterling silver or gold.
Riverdale
His shop is based at the Château Saint-Ambroise in Saint-Henri, but most of his sales are done online.
“Since I’m offering series or films that my target customers already like, it gives my brand a lot of credibility,” says the jeweler.
It is a habit for Inchoo Bijoux to supply American productions such as Riverdale, Sabrina, Snowpiercer or The Ozarks.
“We designed almost all of the jewelry that Adriana wore in the Canadian Drag Race,” says Apissoghomian.