Tiffany & Co.’s high jewelry ambitions are only just revving up. In response to chief executive officer Anthony Ledru in a recent sit-down conversation, the jeweler will proceed a worldwide rollout of experiential sales events and imaginative designs at a heightened pace.

In January, parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton revealed in its 2022 annual earnings report that Tiffany doubled its high jewelry revenue throughout the fiscal 12 months. Ledru seems to think about this a superb start.

“We principally took our blue boxes to the world. In 2021 it was the primary time Blue Book was international [in more than a decade], it went to Shanghai, which was an enormous success. This 12 months might be back to Latest York City [at the company’s renovated Fifth Avenue store] — and it can be a traveling collection. The world has modified and it’s something we’ll proceed to speed up in the approaching months,” Ledru said in his corner executive suite, where his screensaver flashes with K-pop stars that function a few of the brand’s key ambassadors.

Evidence of this plan was presented earlier this month in Park City, Utah, where Tiffany held its first “Diamonds and Wonders” high jewelry event. The initiative was built around a glacier theme that spoke to Park City’s ski resort landscape in addition to the many necessary white diamonds presented within the activation’s case lines.

“Diamonds and Wonders” displayed a “cross-section” of high jewelry pieces from Tiffany’s assorted collections. It placed a heavy emphasis on white diamonds — including a necklace set with a 100-plus carat stone that was cut to the identical proportions because the yellow Tiffany Diamond.

The event concept will proceed on to Shanghai on April 13 — offering the pieces to a latest market. A follow-up event is being planned for Sydney in May.

Tiffany will not be the one jeweler chasing high jewelry sales. The sphere has change into a gold rush — flush with big-ticket clientele in search of revolutionary designs and priceless stones. For some collectors, the category has change into a highly aesthetic checking account — mirroring the way in which wherein high jewelry was collected in the course of the industry’s golden age within the mid-to-late 19^th century.

Ledru, a jewellery history buff, showed off Tiffany’s lineage within the category with a conference table stuffed with archival diamond pieces from that point — mostly items from high society, together with a brooch previously owned by Empress Eugenie.

While the jewellery space has focused on coloured diamonds and gemstones for the last five years, Ledru said that white diamonds — like those shown in Park City — have a long-lasting place inside Tiffany’s history. He also stressed that Tiffany’s high jewelry diverges from its competitors’ because exceptional stones lead the jeweler’s designs as a focus, as an alternative of being tacked on as an expensive decoration.

When asked how the marketplace for high jewelry has exploded so quickly and who these clients are, Ledru said, “They’re all over the place — they was within the U.S., Singapore, the Middle East. Now high jewelry clients are in Paris, London, all over the place — greater than before. I feel the creation of wealth during the last 10 years has been extraordinary.”

In an effort to capture a slice of the craze, Tiffany appears to be holding high jewelry events or initiatives nearly every month.

Now a part of LVMH’s watch and jewellery division under Stéphane Bianchi, Tiffany is adopting a few of the strategies of its sister brands within the group. Prior to LVMH’s acquisition, Tiffany normally held only a couple of high jewelry events per 12 months with a quieter approach. Now, the jeweler’s annual Blue Book collection might be supplemented by smaller traveling capsules with glitzy displays, just like the one seen in Park City.

“There’s a powerful appetite toward high jewelry and Tiffany was perhaps a bit sleepy previously but we’ve gone from one [collection] to multiples of 1,” said Ledru.

He said that the Blue Book will remain a special event since it is taken into account Tiffany’s “high fashion show.”

Victoria Reynolds, Tiffany’s chief gemologist, is liable for overseeing the acquisition of precious stones, and likewise travels to events where she interfaces with clients in regards to the designs available for purchase. She acknowledged that a quicker pace “adds just slightly bit more pressure” to her job.

“That’s what also makes finding these incredible gemstones so special. I’m continually on a quest to search out perfect diamonds and gemstones for our jewelry collections. I travel the world, trying to find stones that meet our exacting standards,” she added.

In response to Ledru, the designs finding essentially the most popularity with clients are sometimes from Tiffany’s Schlumberger collections. Shortly after LVMH acquired Tiffany in January 2021, the jeweler’s latest leadership — including Ledru and executive vp for product and communications Alexandre Arnault — placed latest emphasis on archival Schlumberger designs that were originally conceived within the midcentury. Ledru said that Schlumberger will now change into a fair larger focus in Tiffany’s high jewelry collections.

Ledru called Schlumberger’s Bird on a Rock, a brooch design that was originally created in 1965, “a present once we arrived [at the brand].” The design entails a plucky, firebird-type creature perched atop a big precious stone in lieu of a tree branch.

“We took Bird on a Rock and it got off the rock, so to say. It exploded. There’s a really impressive waiting list in any respect price points, with the entry level at around $75,000 and likewise at the best end, which is about $1 million-plus.”

In February, Tiffany showed a latest tackle the design, called Bird on a Pearl, incorporating Gulf region pearls as an alternative of faceted stones. Ledru said that about 70 percent of the gathering sold out at the gathering’s launch event in Qatar.

The Bird on a Pearl range also provided a preview of Tiffany’s ultimate plans for Schlumberger’s inimitable design.

“Who buys brooches? About 10 percent of high jewelry purists. So we might be putting the bird on earrings, bracelets and necklaces,” Ledru said.

Within the Bird on a Pearl collection that meant latest iterations of the bird — sometimes forward-facing or midflight, and set as a pendant on a fragile, diamond-flecked chain or amongst a flock of its fellow species, flying en route across a cluster of pearl strands.

For many shoppers, high jewelry just like the pieces shown at Tiffany’s events are, at face value, beautiful objects behind glass and the best expression of a brand that they might interact with through marketing campaigns or by buying into through less pricey collections. But for a select group of rich clients, these designs are a reality.

Ledru seems mesmerized by this unique cultural interplay. Since landing at Tiffany he has been obsessive about finding the suitable alchemy to make sure that Tiffany is “a magical place that brings the dream,” across all demographics. In high jewelry, there may be sales growth to be made at the best level while also enabling aspiration amongst a wider consumer base.

While many see the jewellery as a dream, there may be an increasing variety of consumers who find those products to be inside their means.

He grouped the marketplace for high jewelry into two predominant parties of consumers. “One are purists and excited about heritage. They need to be a part of that club of brands that own heritage with a transparent style, and there are 4 or five brands on the planet,” Ledru said.

He continued, “The second [group] is latest — they’re younger and buy in a cool way. They’re in China, parts of Southeast Asia, and other parts of the world — they buy high jewelry from fashion brands. So it’s Tiffany’s cool factor that appeals to them.”

Tiffany, in Ledru’s mind, is on the crossroads of those two consumers. “There’s this old-world history, but Tiffany can be a part of the brand new world with its Latest York spirit and being a cultural phenomenon,” he contended.

Ledru could also be smitten by the potential of the category, but he also cautioned that Tiffany’s intentions within the space are measured. “I don’t consider in growing too fast on high jewelry. The fantastic thing about making high jewelry is scarcity, that it’s difficult to craft by nature. It’s why people love high jewelry or watchmaking since it’s a fantastic creation that you could have to get or it’s gone.”

This high jewelry growth takes place amid a really busy period for the jeweler. In late April, Tiffany will finally reopen its latest Fifth Avenue flagship following a four-year renovation. The shop will include a complete floor dedicated to high jewelry and can host Tiffany’s 2023 Blue Book collection kickoff event sometime this summer.