Mignon Faget, a New Orleans fine jewelry company, unveiled a new line dedicated to Tulane University ahead of Wave Weekend in November. A detailed wave charm is available as a pendant, pin or pair of earrings in Mignon Faget’s retail stores, online and in the Tulane bookstore.
“The design feels timeless and giftable, including for someone whose dream is to attend Tulane or who has a loved one who did,” Carmen Sarduy, assistant vice president of marketing, said.
Mignon Faget CEO Maghan Oroszi led the creation of the permanent line, bringing it to market in time for Tulane’s 2025 Homecoming weekend.
The products range in price from $65 to $2,590, and are made with sterling silver and 14-karat gold.
“We intentionally included products across a range of price points to make the collection as accessible as possible,” Sarduy said.
“Coming to a university from another place … you’re not fully ingrained in the community yet,” Oroszi said. “I think the story that is attached to these designs is a way for people to start to feel like they’re also a part of New Orleans.”
The company is named after founder and Newcomb College alumna, Mignon Faget. A Newcomb-specific line featuring the college’s acorn symbol was previously sold by the company.
“I finally decided to reach out directly to Mignon Faget, a local brand whose work I have admired for years,” Sarduy said. “Knowing that Mignon is an alum who studied sculpture made it feel like a natural fit.”
Orozi said she was inspired by Faget’s original designs, and plans to bring back the acorn line in the near future.
Tulane’s School of Architecture has also inspired jewelry from the company, including rings detailed with a gargoyle.
Oroszi said she was interested in expanding other creative Tulane-related lines. “We looked at the wave as a university-wide symbol, versus these individual school symbols,” she said.
A discussion with the university on how to expand on Mignon Faget’s ties to Tulane led to the launch of the design ahead of Homecoming.
“We were sort of talking about the future, and one of the people in our meeting asked, ‘hey, could you do something special for Wave Weekend?’” Oroszi said.
At the time of their discussion,Wave Weekend was only five weeks away, far quicker than the usual Mignon Faget design-to-production time table, which aims to “keep things focused and keep things moving forward,” Oroszi said.
Oroszi was originally resistant to the rush, but was inspired by the conversation and launched an entire new line dedicated to Tulane in a matter of two months.
“Typically… we like to take a lot more time to explore some different ideas,” and this process can take up to a year, Oroszi said. “The speed of this was fun … I personally like a quick decision and a quick execution.”
“This was the smoothest experience I have had,” Sarduy said, “Both their team and our teams at Tulane, including retail and operations, stayed flexible and focused, and that made it possible.”
The timing of the release also complemented Mignon Faget’s fall collection theme of legacy and the Newcomb alumna’s 70th reunion.
Once available for sale, Oroszi said the line was “super successful.” It launched on a Monday, and by Wednesday of that same week, the products were sold out in all storefronts. Over 500 units have been sold, and Mignon Faget has begun to take special orders for the holiday season.
Oroszi came to work at Mignon Faget through an unconventional path. Like Faget, Oroszi was formerly a Tulane student, before pursuing a career in blacksmithing, which taught her about materials, creative processes and the value of hands-on design.
Now serving as CEO, Oroszi wants to extend her knowledge to students via a prospective internship program. Students would be paid and instructed in design and jewelry manufacturing.
“We’ve started building this training structure,” where students of varying skillsets can explore their interests in the jewelry business, Oroszi said.
Mignon Faget celebrates its 55th anniversary, and the developing internship program is a strategy Oroszi is interested in as she considers “how [to] make another 50 years.”