Tiffany & Co.’s CEO Anthony Ledru on growing the brand and former designer Jean Schlumberger’s legacy

It might have taken all of Tiffany & Co’s 188 years to hold its first exhibition in one of its biggest markets, Thailand, but as CEO Anthony Ledru says cheerfully, “Better late than never.” He is speaking to Prestige from a suite at One Bangkok, a year-old integrated development in the Thai capital, where the brand’s exhibition, Legendary Legacy, is taking place.

Ledru first took the helm of the American jeweller in 2021, following the acquisition of the brand by luxury behemoth LVMH. A veteran luxury industry executive with more than two decades of experience, Ledru does not beat around the bush when explaining why the brand is holding such a major event in Thailand now.

He says, “There are a few reasons, but firstly, the size of the market is quite important. It’s a city of 11 million. We have a very mature, sophisticated clientele in Thailand. They love gemstones, they love unique design. They love heritage.

And we don’t believe we are where we should be yet.” There is also another important reason: The Tiffany boutiques in Thailand – three in Bangkok, and one in Phuket – have been fully renovated and are ready to “maximise the impact of an exhibition”.

From storytelling to “storyliving”

Indeed, Tiffany has placed an outsize focus on overhauling its brick-and-mortar presence since its acquisition by LVMH. In 2023, architect Peter Marino was tasked to transform its New York flagship on Fifth Avenue, which is currently the group’s priciest single-brand store ever built. Spanning 10 storeys – three of which were newly added – and approximately 107,639 sq ft, The Landmark (as the store is now known) is a veritable modern-art museum with some 40 artworks, ranging from a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting to a Daniel Arsham sculpture, and NFTs by Urs Fischer.

More recently, in July, Tiffany inaugurated its largest boutique in Asia – a 26,372 sq ft space located in the swish Ginza district in Tokyo. Designed by Japanese architect Jun Aoki, with interiors by Marino, the brand-new store features a stunning 66m-high facade in Tiffany blue. It occupies six of the building’s 12 floors, with the brand’s Blue Box Café located on the fourth floor. In Tiffany stores elsewhere in the world, including Singapore, extensive renovations are also underway or have taken place.Explaining the emphasis on Tiffany’s brick-and-mortar stores, Ledru shares, “An exhibition only lasts two weeks. When it’s done, it’s gone forever. So people should really come and visit, especially considering the time we take to organise it.

“But our stores, especially the ‘lighthouses’ such as the ones in Ginza and Milan, are more than just jewellery stores. They are almost like homes to permanent exhibitions. They have beautiful architecture, craft and art, and exceptional pieces from our archives. And where we have our café, there is also hospitality. It’s the Hollywood dream – it’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s! Our stores let us bring our stories and heritage alive, and enable us to go from storytelling to ‘storyliving’. That’s why they’re so important.”

A design focal point
Aside from using its boutiques as a foundation for storytelling, Tiffany under Ledru has focused its jewellery offerings around a towering figure in its history: Its renowned former designer, the late Jean Schlumberger, who worked for Tiffany from 1956 to the 1970s.

Schlumberger’s nature-inspired and sometimes surrealistic designs have inspired the high jewellery creations of chief artistic officer Nathalie Verdeille. Tiffany’s latest high jewellery collection, Sea of Wonder, includes an Urchin chapter. Featuring an innovative setting distinguished by loops of yellow gold “rope” and set with yellow diamonds, the pieces take cues from Schlumberger’s 1961 sea urchin-inspired table clock.

However, there is little question that Schlumberger’s most famous design for the house is Bird on a Rock. First created in 1965, the brooch features a crested bird perched atop a gemstone. At a press conference for the Bangkok exhibition, Ledru sported an impressive version of it on the lapel of his navy jacket. When asked about the gemstone on the Bird on a Rock he had personally chosen to wear, he replies immediately with a smile, “Yellow diamond. Vivid intense. Eighteen carats.”

The avian icon now inspires a new collection, Bird on a Rock by Tiffany. While Bird on a Rock has until now included only high jewellery offerings, the new range spans both high and fine jewellery. In Bangkok, we had a pre-launch preview of pieces from the fine jewellery range, which includes not just figurative bird motifs, but also abstract interpretations featuring wing motifs.

Elaborating on why Tiffany expanded its Bird on a Rock family, Ledru explains that it always comes back to what clients want. He says, “Our high jewellery clients, who are actually very protective of the design because it’s so exceptional, told us, ‘We would like to be able to wear the bird in a more casual way. And I would like my daughter to be able to wear it too, and she’s not going to spend a million dollars on a brooch or a bracelet. What can you do?’ That’s the spirit of this collection.”