Mignon Faget was raised in a Creole French downtown family in New Orleans, by her father, a doctor from the West Indies and her mother of French descent. Mignon Faget has a sister of 16 years her eldest and a brother of 9 years her eldest.
Mignon Faget launched her first ready-to-wear line in 1969 in a studio in the Riverbend neighborhood of New Orleans. Faget studied sculpture at Newcomb then transitioned to design at D.H. Holmes Department store. While making a belt one day, Faget melted down wedding gifts into a design reminiscent of sand dollars and the sea. When customers saw the design, they asked to wear the shells as pendants, inspiring her to look further into creating accessories. Since then, Faget has worked primarily in jewelry, creating sculptural jewelry inspired by nature and animals specifically, from Louisiana. She renovated a barge board cottage and it became the early headquarters housing her studio, jewelry workshop and retail gallery for many years. In 1997, she renovated a neo-classical former bank building to house her company, in addition to having galleries in New Orleans, Metairie, and Baton Rouge. After opening her new facility, she donated her original location on Dublin Street to the Preservation Resource Center.
Collections and Commissions
Faget has designed special commissions for various organizations, including the Preservation Resource Center, Desire NOLA, Woodlands Trail and Park, H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the , the at the Audubon Nature Institute, and the Friends of the Audubon Zoo, among others. Her designs for Newcomb College feature the motif of the oak tree, a prominent symbol in the college's history. She has also designed jewelry for various New Orleans Mardi Graskrewes for their annual balls.
Exhibitions
Faget's work has appeared in various galleries across the country. In 1976 and 1980 she had solo showings in Kruger Gallery in New York City at which she showcased her latest designs.
Inspiration
Her jewelry is often inspired by her local environment, such as New Orleans architecture and culture or based on forms in nature. Faget describes her work as a "crossover between a jeweled accessory and a piece of jewelry". Faget designs by collections and has created works entitled Sea, Romanesque Return, Zea, Animal Crackers, Armament, Schema, among others. Citing a dictionary, Faget herself referred to her work as "biomorphic," meaning "related to, derived from, or incorporating the forms of living beings, used especially of primitive and abstract art." However, she has also made work drawing inspiration from man-made elements such as architecture and place-based culture.
Materials
She fabricates in gold, sterling silver, bronze, precious, and semi-precious stones. She also designs items for personal and home adornment and gifts.
