This is the story of Tiffany & Co., A whim of 14.7 billion euros

Last December, the French luxury firm LVMH bought the American jewelry chain Tiffany by 16.200 million dollars (14.700 million euros), becoming the most important operation in the luxury sector of 2019.

With this purchase, the Frenchman, who wanted to increase her presence in the United States, made the greatest acquisition in the history of the Arnault billionaire group and made one of the fastest growing businesses in the luxury segment, since the brandJoyera had a 7 percent global increase in 2018 and a market of around 18.000 millones de euros, según estimaciones de Bain & Co.But Tiffany accounts did not always have so many figures behind.It was not always a breakfast with diamonds.

In the 1830s, young Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B.Young, in a New York in full emergency, opened a gift and stationery items store, with a capital of 1.000 dollars provided by Tiffany's father;And so its story began.

Los dos emprendedores, haciendo honor a su lozanía y dejándose llevar por un mundo más sencillo, siguieron unas pautas de simplicidad, armonía y claridad, con las que consiguieron conquistar a las señoras más elegantes de la Gran Ciudad, que descubrieron en Tiffany & Co.An American style, away from opulence and ceremonial patterns of the Victorian era, which continued to prevail in Europe.All renovating air.

The springs passed and the founders continued to conquer the clientele, increasingly sophisticated, at a blow of innovation and proper name.Until 1879, the year that gave them their first international recognition.Tiffany was awarded the first silver craft prize at the Paris Fair, this being the first time that an American design house was awarded by an international jury.And it is that the jewelry brand was a pioneer to use the standard of sterling silver (92 percent purity).A rule that was subsequently adopted by the United States government;Thanks, in large part, to the efforts of Charles Lewis Tiffany.

El taller de platería de Tiffany & Co.It was also the first design school.There, apprentices encouraged to observe and sketch nature.In this way, in 1870, the company had become the main platerus of the United States and jewelry and watches supplier.A fact that made him grow until he reached more than a thousand employers and offices in London, Paris and Geneva.

From that moment on, the emporium has not stopped harvesting many milestones over the years. En 1878, Tiffany&Co.He became with the world's largest yellow diamonds in Kimberley diamond mines in South Africa.A piece that, under the direction of Dr. George Frederick Kunz, the company's gemologist at that time, became the Tiffany Diamond, a benchmark for the company's artisanal work.Currently, this and all the iconic pieces of the firm can be seen in the mythical Blue Book-published catalog for the first time in 1845-, where diamonds and the most spectacular jewels of the world created year by year are shown year.Also in 1878 the company registered its famous Blue Tiffany, since it was the color of the cover of the catalog of that year.

In its eagerness to innovate and break the established molds, the American company did it again with its tiffany setting, the commitment ring that has become the most coveted symbol of love.At that time, the diamond rings were flush by bevels, but Tiffany designed a ring designed to highlight the bright size diamonds, lifting the band of the band ring to enter the light.

Thus, and after having introduced important precious stones in the United States through purchases of the jewels of the crown of France and Spain, the company of the King of the Diamonds became the world authority of these jewels, as well as the company moreAmbitious in international exhibitions and samples, also recognized with different awards throughout history.

In 1902, with the death of Charles Lewis Tiffany, Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of the founder, became the first art director of Tiffany.A new president who had already managed to settle years before as a leader in the design of the United States, when, in 1882, President Chester Arthur invited him to redecorate the White House.In addition, he was a world leader in the Art Noveau movement (1990).

Throughout history, the firm won the respect and recognition of the most prominent members of American society, such as, among many others, the Vanderbilt family, the Whitney, the Havemeyer or even President Lincoln or the young Roosevelt,That, whether for their own use or to surprise their partners, they always chose Tiffany's jewels.

The Louis Comfort Tiffany company had always designed its jewels capturing the spirit of each time, and it has continued to do so during these centuries: from the straightness of the 1920s, through the modernism of the 1930s, until the aerodynamic erafrom 1940 and 1950.Jean Schlumberger was the designer of most jewels of the twentieth century.Their birds, flowers and animals of marine fauna are still a great icon of the brand, which are edited with pride in its most special collection.But, in addition to Schlumberger, visionary designers have passed through the house, such as Elsa Peretti or Paloma Picasso, which left, after their passage, an aura of simplicity and exquisiteness.

Now, 189 years after that two young entrepreneurs opened the doors of a business that had more dreams than billing, Tiffany stands as one of the most profitable luxury emporiums on the planet.With more than 300 stores worldwide, the company recently absorbed by LVMH has sales of plus 4.000 million dollars, and has managed to revalue every year in the market."Many luxury brands tend to look at the past to find inspiration, but Tiffany has always been watching the future," said Alessandro Bogliolo, CEO of the company, in an interview with Status.And, with the responsibility of managing a company with a dizzying past, the executive director is clear that the future goes through new markets, such as millennials, joining the car of sustainability -it was already a pioneer company in the commitment in the commitmentof obtaining minerals in a responsible manner- and improving the traceability of precious stones- a factor to which they have already dedicated a great investment, confesses-.

"We have to keep the cultural heritage of Tiffany if we want to write new pages in its history," says Bogliolo, a path that will now have to travel under the umbrella of LVMH.