Joy Toledano welcomed me with a calm, almost shy smile. On the table were a few diamonds scattered like stars and a hot cup of coffee. Joy Toledano's showroom resembles her universe: it is quiet, bright and lived-in. Nothing is ostentatious, just materials that speak for themselves. The artist does not have the mechanical way of talking about ‘creation’ that some designers have. She talks about sensations. She recounts intuitions and those moments that resonate. ‘I believe that everything starts with a sign,’ she says. And that says it all. Because that's what Mysteryjoy is all about: a story of signs and symbols. Call it what you will. We choose to refer to coincidences, those little happenings that you don't notice right away, but which end up tracing a path.
Joy Toledano, the beauty of signs with talisman jewellery
Joy Toledano says it plainly: she's not trying to make things pretty. She's trying to tell the truth. Each piece of jewellery she creates is a word that goes unspoken. A word of love, a word of protection, a word that we keep close to our skin like a quiet prayer. Her creations have the rare delicacy of things made to last. A checkerboard for balance. An eye for vigilance. A clover, a heart, a diamond or a spade to speak of destiny. The symbols follow one another, but nothing is theoretical. With Joy, everything is instinctive. She has an almost childlike way of trusting in what ‘happens’. ‘When an idea crosses my mind, I don't hold back, I follow it,’ she confides.
And that is undoubtedly what makes Mysteryjoy so alive, because you can sense that there is something deeply human behind each creation.
On the skin, the light of jewellery that appeals to the senses
The brand was born in 2020, almost as a matter of course. Joy wanted jewellery that spoke of emotions, not status. Her first chapter, Game Illusion, plays with reflections and illusions, as if to remind us that life is a game in motion. Then came Unreal Forest, inspired by her grandmother's garden, a place of memories, scents and childhood. And finally, Protection, undoubtedly the most personal, with talismans against doubt, fear and absence.
Between warrior and Alice: the feminine plural according to Joy
It is undoubtedly in the Unreal Forest collection that Joy Toledano reveals herself the most, beneath her long brown hair. A series inspired by a childhood memory, but behind the softness of enamelled roses and rose bracelets, there is another energy, more instinctive, almost warrior-like. Joy celebrates this femininity that no longer apologises with snake rings, thorny rose necklaces, shapes that seem fragile but speak of the strength to get back up, to stand up for oneself.
And yet, everything remains imbued with magic, as Joy has retained Alice in Wonderland's sense of wonder at the world, its keys and locks, mirrors and reflections. We find this confident tension in La Rose Noire, a romantic and rebellious capsule collection, where fragility is transformed into power... As if Joy wanted to say that strength does not come from armour, but from the heart.
Joy Toledano, intuition as a compass
It was with DIALE, in 2024, that Joy invented her own language, each letter carved from a diamond, without mounting, without artifice. A pure, almost spiritual, even provocative gesture. A year later, she added symbols such as the heart, the club, the spade and the diamond. Simple but universal shapes, like emotions engraved in light.
When she talks about it, her eyes light up: ‘It's an intimate alphabet. You can write your first name, or nothing at all. What matters is the feeling.’
She never talks about strategy or trends. At Joy, everything is about feeling. She has an almost organic relationship with creation, she likes to touch, she observes with her transparent blue eyes, and above all, she listens. Her jewellery has been worn by very different women, including Valérie Lemercier, Aya Nakamura, JK Rowling, Gigi Hadid... Women who feel the power of jewellery.
Translated by Bethszabee Garner
