Washington (AFP)
Tiffany, the biggest jeweler in the world of luxury French LVMH, is "an icon of America with incredible history", according to the word of Bernard Arnault, his new owner.
- Jewelry and Art Nouveau -
The epic of the blue-boxed brand began in 1837 when Charles Lewis Tiffany opened a fancy goods store on Broadway in Manhattan where you could find stationery, handkerchiefs and glove boxes.
Ten years later, the company specializes in jewelery, Charles Lewis Tiffany acquiring from 1848 European jewelry collections, including diamonds worn by Marie Antoinette.
In 1850, Tiffany opened a shop in Paris, rue de Richelieu, then a branch in London in 1868 and a large watch factory in Geneva.
But it is with the son of the founder, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), a painter and designer of decorative arts, that the brand makes flores, whereas the art glass is in full rebirth in France, in England and to Venise.
Louis C. Tiffany, admirer of the ceramist and glassmaker of the Nancy Emile Gallé school, becomes a herald of Art Nouveau in the United States.
Its lamps, panels and stained glass adorn the industrial buildings of the "Gilded Age", the American Industrial Age.
Tiffany will also decorate the interior of the White House in 1882.
"It's an iconic brand, an icon of America that becomes a little French, has a lot of potential and an incredible story," Arnault said.
- A jewel of the Fifth Avenue -
Tiffany was able to associate its image and development with the radiance of New York by opening in 1940 a luxury store on the prestigious Fifth Avenue.
The multi-story flagship building, with its famous turquoise blue teahouse and jewelery boxes at the top, attracts tourists and guests from all over the world.
Among this famous clientele were Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
A single yellow diamond with 90 facets discovered in 1878 - that Tiffany never gave up - is permanently exposed to it.
The store was immortalized in the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" ("Diamonds on Sofa"), adapted from a novel by Truman Capote.
The romantic comedy, which opens on a stage of Audrey Hepburn in little black dress, rows of pearls around his neck, enjoying a coffee in front of the showcase of the diamond, has further marked the brand in the imagination of Americans.
- 300 stores worldwide -
If the Fifth Avenue sign, which now adjoins Trump Tower, accounts for nearly 10% of the brand's sales alone, Tiffany operates more than 300 stores worldwide.
The broad US market, including Mexico and Brazil, accounts for 44% of sales, followed by Asia (excluding Japan) for 28%, Japan for 15% and Europe for 11%, according to figures from Tiffany and Co.
The jeweler, for the acquisition of which LVMH will disburse cash more than 16 billion dollars, made a profit of 586 million dollars for a turnover of 4.4 billion dollars in 2018.
© 2019 AFP