WHAT GOES AROUND: Bernard Arnault has made his name because the entrepreneur behind the world’s largest luxury group, but on Thursday he was honored for his contribution to real estate, receiving the award from certainly one of the world’s most famous architects.

Frank Gehry, who has collaborated with Arnault on several projects, most memorably the striking Fondation Louis Vuitton constructing near Paris, flew from Los Angeles for the Pierres d’Or ceremony held on the InterContinental Paris Le Grand hotel.

“Working with Bernard Arnault is something of a pleasure, I can let you know. I like to recommend it for other architects. He’s an lively and really committed client; he stays involved with the projects and with the detail,” Gehry told the gang, made up of the French capital’s leading real estate executives.

“Each of us share a love for the humanities, in fact, but especially for classical music, so after we work on a project together, even the restrooms, we attempt to make music. It’s like a disease, isn’t it Bernard?” he added, directly addressing the chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Accepting the special prize, which marked the twenty fifth anniversary of the awards, Arnault recalled that he began his profession along with his family’s construction firm Ferret-Savinel, overseeing its transformation into real estate firm Ferinel. From those early days of overseeing the constructing of homes, offices and factories in France and the U.S., he has kept an abiding love of architecture.

“I haven’t practiced this occupation in years, as you almost certainly know, but it surely was then that I perceived the potential in combining entrepreneurship and creativity to provide you with real estate products that sold loads higher because they’d this creative, inventive dimension that made them stand out,” said the chief, who competes with Elon Musk for the title of the world’s richest man.

He noted that for greater than three a long time, LVMH has contributed to restoring historic buildings dating back to the Middle Ages, along with working on latest projects with architects including Christian de Portzamparc, who designed the LVMH Tower in Recent York City. Arnault particularly enjoys working with Gehry.

“It’s a variety of fun,” he said. “He’s an exceptional architect but he’s very easy to work with. He’s not the sort of architect who says, ‘You pay the bills and I’ll handle the architecture, leave me alone.’ By no means. We work together very closely.”

Arnault recalled the difficult gestation of the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which took 10 years to finish and has welcomed near 10 million visitors since its opening in 2014. “Paris will not be easy,” he said to applause. “Even when you may have the support of the town of Paris or the federal government, you’re not out of the woods.”

He teased plans for a cognac museum, to be designed by Gehry, next to the Moët Hennessy cellars on the Charente river in Cognac, France. “It won’t be ready for several years since it’s a ravishing constructing, but again not very easy to construct, with copper on the within,” Arnault said.

Chatting with WWD after the ceremony, Arnault said he felt an obligation to preserve Paris while helping to modernize the town.

LVMH has contributed 200 million euros to a fund to rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral after it was destroyed by a hearth in 2019, and has revitalized the neighboring Pont-Neuf area, where Pharrell Williams earlier this week showed his debut collection for Louis Vuitton on the French capital’s oldest bridge.

Although some left-wing city councillors criticized the posh group’s use of a public space for its show, Arnault noted that LVMH’s investment has transformed the neighborhood, with the opening of the La Samaritaine department store and Cheval Blanc hotel in 2021 near Vuitton’s headquarters.

“I don’t know in the event you keep in mind that little square down there. Ten years ago, no one got here there. There was no point. Now, it’s certainly one of the liveliest places in Paris, and that’s terrific. And I feel that, frankly, without wanting to boast, it’s really because of us,” he said.