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Tiffany & Co. is firing on all cylinders under its new owner LVMH, and it’s just the beginning. Two years after being acquired by the French luxury giant for $16 billion, the New York jeweler has seen the sales of its high jewelry rocket. Its average selling price has doubled and demand for its new “Lock” collection has grown solidly, its chief executive told Miss Tweed in an exclusive interview.

Tiffany is following a similar strategy to Louis Vuitton, who have just hired pop star Pharrell Williams as creative director for menswear. The two brands share the vision of LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, who believes luxury is about selling culture. While Louis Vuitton plans to wow the crowds with Pharrell’s creativity, Tiffany will stand out by teaming up with Beyoncé, queen of pop music. They have already done witty things like releasing joke campaigns about yellow being the new official color, as well as collaborating with sports brands such as Nike.

Some industry experts have criticized the Nike initiative, saying Tiffany was trying too hard to woo the 15-25-year-old age bracket and risked losing more mature customers with such fashions as $400 sneakers in robin’s egg blue, with a black side swoosh. But CEO Anthony Ledru disagreed. “It’s not a mistake,” he told Miss Tweed. “You may not like it but it shows we have audacity.”

Ledru said Tiffany’s strategy was to do unexpected, zany things that made it look less serious and uptight than other jewelers. Richemont’s Cartier is regarded as statutory, its best-sellers like “Love” and “Juste un Clou” collections being seen as status symbols. Sister brand Van Cleef & Arpels also sticks to conservative marketing, centrered around nature and its best-selling clover-shaped collection, “Alhambra”.

Ledru noted that Tiffany had always done off-the-wall collaborations in the same way Louis Vuitton had with numerous artists and brands such as Supreme. Collaborations are overseen by Bernard Arnault’s 30-year-oldson Alexandre, who is in charge of products and communications at Tiffany.

For Ledru, “Tiffany is part of pop culture”. For example, the 2021 campaign featuring Beyoncé and Jay-Z, next to a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting that used what looked like Tiffany’s trademark blue, expressed the brand’s close association with America’s pop culture. “It was completely pop,” he said.

Pop culture is often defined as a form of expression that reflects the shared values of a social system and is appreciated by the greatest number. It contrasts with an elitist or avant-garde culture that is only appreciated by a small number of educated people. “We surf on pop culture. We believe in it,” Ledru said. The brand could have no better ambassador than Beyoncé. “Beyoncé is regarded as an aristocrat in the United States. She’s Queen Beyoncé,” he said.

LVMH’s strategy is to turn Tiffany into the “Louis Vuitton of jewelry”, not only in terms of cultural relevance but also size and product offering. Louis Vuitton is the world’s biggest luxury brand, generating more than €20 billion in annual revenue. Tiffany today sells many more expensive items than it did two years ago. The entry price has increased and the brand has expanded its range of accessible products for aspirational customers, items costing a few hundred dollars as opposed to less than $100 before.

Like Vuitton, Tiffany wants to be regarded as elitist and democratic at the same time: a brand that attracts both the masses and the wealthy customer interested in that one-of-a-kind piece fetching millions. Similarly,Louis Vuitton sells $300 keychains and custom-made, LV-embossed trunks costing thousands.

Ledru has the Louis Vuitton chip in his brain, having spent six years at the French brand. The 49-year-old industry veteran, who previously worked for Cartier and Tiffany at an earlier stage of his career, was Louis Vuitton’s No. 2 in charge of retail before becoming Tiffany’s new boss in January 2021 as Miss Tweed predicted in August 2020.

LVMH is pumping huge resources into Tiffany and this will yield significant increases in sales and profitability, industry experts predict. The U.S. jeweler may never be the size of Cartier, whose revenues are estimated at more than $10 billion, but it is catching up. Tiffany’s sales are estimated to have reached around $5 billion in 2022. They represent more than half of the €10.6 billion revenue made in 2022 by LVMH’s Watches and Jewelry division, which Tiffany joined in January this year.Comparing apples with apples, Cartier’s pure jewelry sales are roughly $6-7 billion. The balance is made up of other things such as watches, perfumes and accessories.

Ledru said Tiffany’s high jewelry was the segment that had really taken off. “It has just exploded,” he said. “We doubled (sales) last year and quadrupled them in the past two years.” This was partly due to the sourcing of “exceptional stones”, which were “incomparable to what we had two-three years ago”. High jewelry is estimated to represent around 10 percent of the brand’s jewelry sales, around the same as for Cartier.

Like haute couture in fashion, high jewelry tries new ideas and pushes the limits of creativity. It is crucial for a jeweler’s image. It puts the focus on the prowess of the skilled craftsmen and allows a brand to build relations with the world’s most affluent customers. If done right, it can be very profitable. When a piece costs $10 million in stones and work, and you sell it for $25 million, you see the margins this represents for a jeweler.

Tiffany scouts the world for exceptional stones. Ledru said the brand had bought the last batch of Argyle diamonds (red and pink), which come from a mine in Western Australia that closed more than two years ago. There were 35 of them. As these are small, very expensive diamonds, he wants to keep them for one very special customer.

Ledru pointed out that Tiffany was the only jeweler that had a name for its high jewelry collection. It’s called Blue Book and goes back to the original Blue Book that founder Charles Lewis Tiffany started sending customers in 1845 to show them his collections. Ledru said Tiffany was intent on using only stones that were naturally perfect, meaning they needed no heat treatment to get rid of flaws. “Blue Book uses only untreated stones. I think we're the only ones to do that.” Tiffany plans to present its new high jewelry collection later this spring.

Ledru said Tiffany’s growth was also propelled by its gold collections. He described the recent launch of its new “Lock” bracelet, advertised by Beyoncé and K-pop star Rosé, as a success. The U-shaped bracelet, from the brand’s archives, features a clasp that works like a padlock. “The launch of the ‘Lock’ is the biggest success in the history of Tiffany in year one. In year two, we're going to be on a trend that's going to be way beyond what ‘T’ was when it was launched (in 2014),” Ledru said.

The French executive said business had improved in many categories, from items costing $1,000 to $10,000 and $100,000. “Tiffany’s growth today is mainly driven by exceptional products… We've doubled our average price,” he said. Ledru made clear Tiffany still had a lot of firepower both in terms of sales growth, profitability and new products.

“We're just at the beginning of ‘Lock’, we're just at the beginning of ‘Hardware’, we're pretty mature on diamonds. We have to admit that. We have a high level. And we have a huge potential that we haven't deployed yet on quality gifts and accessories, such as tableware and candles. Tiffany has always had a gift culture that goes back to the 60s and 70s. Gifts that New York socialites liked to buy.”

Ledru said the brand’s “Hardware” collection, introduced in 2017 and recently revamped and advertised by a new campaign, was popular. It appealed to the trendy customer, he said. “It's unique. No one else has this on the market. It's our second pillar after ‘T’ by Tiffany”. The “T” collection was designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof, now creative director of Louis Vuitton’s jewelry.

Another collection on which Tiffany plans to work is the enamel bracelet designed by artist Jean Schlumberger, hired by the jeweler back in the 1960s. Jackie Kennedy used to wear that bracelet. “It still needs a little re-engineering. I think I would like to lighten it up a little bit.” That could be another winner.

One of the brand’s recent highlights was this month’s launch of Tiffany’s “Bird on a Pearl” collection in Qatar. It gives a new twist to Schlumberger’s “Bird on a Rock” – a little bird perched on a stone which can be a citrine, amethyst or other. For Ledru, Schlumberger’s designs embody Tiffany’s audacity but also its sophistication and refinement.

For “Bird on a Pearl”, Tiffany managed the tour de force of acquiring one of the world’s most impressive pearl collections, assembled by Qatari businessman and renowned pearl trader Hussain Ibrahim Al Fardan. For years, Cartier tried to buy it. Ledru secured it thanks to his long-standing friendship with Al Fardan.

The businessman goes way back with Tiffany, since his company has been distributing its jewels in the Gulf for many years. Ledru got to know him when he worked for Harry Winston in 2011-2013. He kept in touch and sent him good wishes at New Year. Luxury is not only about business but also about alliances and personal relationships. In the end, that’s what makes the difference and leads to success.

“The best in pearls is Mr. Al Fardan's collection and the best for Tiffany is Schlumberger’s ‘Bird on a Pearl’, who takes off from New York and lands in Qatar,” Ledru said. The 25-piece-collection, presented with great pomp this month, received a lot of coverage by Middle Eastern and international media.

The initiative allows Tiffany to enter the strategically important market of Qatar by celebrating its culture while at the same time selling the U.S. jeweler’s heritage and expertise. “Let’s not forget that the pearl was used as a currency in the Middle East for centuries,” Ledru said. “Pearls are the gems of the ocean.”

In many ways, what Ledru has achieved harks back to what former Louis Vuitton CEO Yves Carcelle used to do when he entered a new market 15-20 years ago. To get local customers to get to knowLouis Vuitton and warm up to the brand, he would first build strong ties with local businessmen and authorities and celebrate the country’s culture and uniqueness.

Ledru said there was a six-month waiting list for “Bird on a Rock” brooches, which cost from $1-2 million. He said Tiffany planned to widen the collection to include not only earrings but also pendants, rings and necklaces. “The Bird is for me the ultimate emblem of Tiffany. It's a funny little bird from Australia. It's quirky and phantasmagorical. Let’s remember that Schlumberger was friends with Surrealist artists like Cocteau and Dali.”

In New York, the Tiffany flagship has been undergoing refurbishment for over four years in a project that is pharaonic in its scale and ambition. As well as jewelry and a high jewelry atelier, there will be art exhibitions and a “very pop” blue restaurant, with a menu by a famous French chef Tiffany is keeping secret until the launch.

“This landmark is not only going to be the biggest jewelry store in the world, it’s going to be a cultural hub,” said Ledru, predicting it would feature in the top-10 tourist attractions in New York.

One of Tiffany’s strengths, Ledru said, was that around 50 percent of its production was located in the US. “I think we are the only brand that makes high jewelry in upstate New York.” The brand has a workshop in Pelham and a production hub in Rhode Island. Tiffany also relies on workshops in Italy and in France. “We have a lot of different suppliers. You have to stay agile and smart,” Ledru said. As demand grows, production is going to be a challenge. But having waiting lists is not necessarily a bad thing – as Hermès knows all too well.