Hard luxury's push within the arts

Luxury houses such as Tiffany & Co, Chaumet and De Beers are staking out cultural space to court collectors and redefine brand prestige. Will it work?

At the most recent Frieze art fair in London, which wrapped on 19 October, Tiffany & Co became the first-ever supporter of the Artist-to-Artist initiative, providing bursaries to six galleries showcasing new talent.
With the partnership, Tiffany & Co put up sponsorship dollars to support the artists and give them visibility through a film focusing on the project. The jewellery brand made its presence known onsite, too: the participating galleries’ numbers at the top of the booths were printed in Tiffany blue, as opposed to their usual grey. Tiffany & Co is mentioned as a sponsor on the wall introducing the initiative, while an accompanying brochure features the brand’s ads.

“Frieze is highly selective about partners — we work only with organisations that share our values and long-term commitment to the arts,” says Frieze chief commercial officer Emily Glazebrook. “Tiffany brings a proven track record of artist collaboration, underscoring how deeply the brand values art and creativity.”

While luxury brands across categories — from fashion to beauty to spirits — have long flirted with the art world through collaborations and sponsorships, the recent push from hard luxury, particularly jewellery, is more pronounced and has accelerated over the past couple of years.

At Frieze, De Beers took to a booth to launch an educational campaign and platform promoting natural diamonds, titled ‘A Diamond is Forever’ in homage to its historic slogan. Van Cleef & Arpels is running two simultaneous institutional shows: one at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum and the other at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Bvlgari is doing the same, with exhibitions at the National Art Centre in Tokyo and the Nita Ambani Foundation in Mumbai. Cartier commands a monumental showcase at the V&A Museum in London, and is about to open the doors to its newest home for Fondation Cartier in the heart of Paris, next to the Louvre, as Art Basel Paris commences. Chaumet, meanwhile, is collaborating with Qatar Museums on a special tiara project to mark the institution’s 20th anniversary.

Chaumet CEO Charles Leung says the decision reflects a long-standing relationship with the museum, which has hosted high jewellery presentations and lent collection pieces over the years. The 20th anniversary of Qatar Museums prompted the creation of the tiara, which was developed in collaboration with young regional talent. “We hope this will inspire young designers to study jewellery design and join future regional creative opportunities led by the maison,” Leung says.

This flurry of activity between hard luxury brands and cultural institutions raises the question: why so much? And why now, especially when the art market itself is navigating choppy waters? Artnet’s price database reports an 8.8 per cent year-on-year drop in fine art auction sales for the first half of this year, with the average lot price down 6.5 per cent, reaching its lowest half-year level in a decade, although sales at the recent Frieze art fair showed signs of a rebound.

Analysts broadly agree that luxury’s drive to be perceived as art is inevitable, as prices become increasingly detached from raw material costs and aim instead to reflect the craftsmanship and maker’s reputation, much like art. “Art is luxury on steroids: price has no reference to cost of production, and luxury brands are keen to be associated with the arts,” says Bernstein luxury goods analyst Luca Solca, noting the goal is that some of art’s cost detachment rubs off on designer products in clients’ minds.

Bain partner Claudia D’Arpizio adds that jewellery houses have pursued this association more than other categories, because “high jewellery pieces are true masterpieces, unique gemstones meticulously crafted by artisans, which stand on par with fine art, such as paintings or sculptures” — historically, many Renaissance painters were also learning jewellery making. Showcasing in cultural institutions, she notes, provides both the “ideal setting” for brand storytelling and a powerful marketing platform.

Partnering with an art fair or a museum also offers compelling benefits — and cost efficiencies — versus staging a standalone exhibition, notes Federica Levato, a partner of Bain’s retail practice. “Existing art fairs and museums offer high client density, lower fixed costs, faster brand activation and a ‘name’ that already resonates within the market, so an exhibition at the V&A Museum or at Frieze will intercept both audiences looking for the brand — but also ‘organic’ audiences from the museum itself,” she says.