Two French jewellery houses with more than 575 years of history between them will mark their new moves into the US market next week.
On Tuesday, Boucheron will host a party to celebrate the opening of its first standalone boutique in the country, on New York’s Madison Avenue. And on the same day, Mellerio will hold a cocktail event at its pop-up in the city’s Bergdorf Goodman department store — its first US stockist.
Both storied houses say their expansion in the US is a response to consumer demand. The proportion of turnover at Mellerio’s Parisian flagship store generated from American customers grew from 2 per cent in the whole of 2019 to 20 per cent in the first six months of this year, says Christophe Mélard, managing director of the family-owned jeweller since 2021.
Mélard joined the independent house, which dates back to 1613, with the aim of capitalising on its story and archives, and redefining its product lines, to attract American customers. After signing New York-based jewellery agency Muse as its US distributor, Mellerio launched in Bergdorf Goodman in February with pieces priced at $2,000 to $400,000. A one-off case by Parisian luggage brand Goyard containing 10 of the house’s Color Queen rings sold for $250,000 during the first week, says Mélard.
Boucheron, founded in 1858, is also experiencing growth in its American clientele — both through its existing eight US points of sale in department stores Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, and also outside the country, particularly at its Place Vendôme flagship, says chief executive Hélène Poulit-Duquesne. “On the segment of high jewellery, year to date [to the end of July], it’s the first nationality for us,” she notes.
Kering-owned Boucheron considers high jewellery to be those pieces priced above €200,000; and fine jewellery to be those pieces in the €50,000-€200,000 range. Poulit-Duquesne says the house has clients in the US for both the “more classical”, archive-inspired high jewellery collection it releases every January, and for the annual innovation-focused launch in July that allows the brand’s creative director Claire Choisne “to push the boundaries”.
The house is showing its latest high jewellery, the water-inspired Or Bleu collection, as part of an installation that can be visited by appointment at an undisclosed venue in New York on September 11-12. It will also unveil a new ring — not for sale — that celebrates the 20th anniversary of its Quatre collection. For this unique piece, Poulit-Duquesne and Choisne worked with Ircam, a French institute that specialises in researching music and sound, to create music that encapsulates the sound of water. Boucheron has used a 5D digital data storage technique to laser engrave this sound on the inside of the ring so it will survive for billions of years.
After she joined Boucheron from Cartier in 2015, Poulit-Duquesne says she had to choose between East and West for regional expansion because of the size of the team at that time. While she decided on Asia first, she says she knew “the US is an El Dorado because it’s a great market for jewellery”. North America accounted for a 29 per cent share of the $56.8bn global luxury jewellery market last year, making it the second largest regional market behind Asia Pacific, according to Euromonitor.
Poulit-Duquesne also points out that Boucheron has a strong historical link to the US. The brand has reflected this in the design of its New York store, which had its “soft opening” last month. On permanent display are exact replicas, inspired by photographs in Boucheron’s archives, of three pieces bought by influential American clients at the end of the 19th century.
These include an aigrette that the socialite Cornelius Vanderbilt II bought for his sculptor daughter, Gertrude, when she married in 1896. Today, Poulit-Duquesne says Americans account for more of the important collectors of Boucheron jewellery than any other nationality.
Mellerio is highlighting its own history during its pop-up, which opened last month and runs until October 27. The brand has taken over a corner of Bergdorf Goodman’s ground floor with an expanded range of new pieces — including the Jardin Pierreries amethyst, purple sapphire and diamond necklace from the high jewellery collection it presented in Paris in June. At the same time, a display of antique and vintage jewels includes a silver bracelet (c1780) featuring garnets and seven cameos that belonged to Marie Antoinette and inspired the house’s current Cabinet of Curiosities collection. There are also drawings and plaster casts of historical jewellery on show.
While small, the pop-up is a “good opportunity to . . . express who we are” and attract new customers, says Mélard, who worked at Kering between 2005 and 2014, latterly as chief executive and president of footwear brand Sergio Rossi. He is attending next week’s party with Laure-Isabelle Mellerio, the house’s president and artistic director, who represents the 14th generation of the family in the business.
Mélard wants to capitalise on Mellerio’s presence at Bergdorf Goodman by organising further events and trunk shows, and building relationships with press and “influential people”, before introducing other US points of sale. He says he hopes to expand in future with “several doors”.
“I have no doubt there is a huge potential for the brand in the US market and my dream would be, probably, to balance and have quickly a level of sales representing the same what I have today in France and Europe,” says Mélard. Europe is currently the region that delivers its highest level of sales, ahead of Japan. The brand has 17 points of sale, globally, aside from Bergdorf Goodman and its Parisian boutique.
Boucheron, which has built a 15-strong team in the US, is already planning to open a second boutique there — in the Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort and casino — by the end of this year, with stores in Los Angeles and Miami to follow in 2025.
Poulit-Duquesne, who expects expansion to continue after 2025, says the brand “would love to reach the level of Cartier or Van Cleef [& Arpels]” in the US. “We target that the US represents the same percentage in 10 years in terms of turnover as in the global jewellery market for high-end brands,” she says — but declines to reveal figures.
She is aware that it took other jewellers a decade “to set up a real brand awareness” in the US. “So we know that it’s going to be an investment for the long run,” she says.
