Crafting Tomorrow

Few brands match Van Cleef & Arpels in consistency of messaging, philosophy and legacy building. New CEO CATHERINE RÉNIER, who knows the brand intimately after 15 years working with the maison, is committed to upholding this standard.

- Words: CHARLENE CO

It does feel like home,” Catherine Rénier, newly seated CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, says as we step into one of the maison's enchanting “salons” built inside its whimsically designed booth — picture romantic promenades along Parisian streets, arched windows and ornate gas-lamp posts — at Watches & Wonders in April. I'd asked her how it feels to be back in this familiar and, dare I say, more delicate setting, rather than across the hall at Jaeger-LeCoultre, where she served as its CEO for six years, the first woman to do so.

“It was very fulfilling taking that on, and indeed a learning experience,” Rénier says of her time at Jaeger-LeCoultre, where she's been credited, among other things, for infusing a feminine touch into its traditionally masculine designs and taking a novel approach to the revival of the brand’s Duometre collection. While the personalities of these two brands couldn't be more different, she notes that the maisons are, in fact, similar in many ways: they share a similar commitment to preserving and honouring their patrimony, for instance, as well as an unbending commitment to craftsmanship and artistry. “These are the same values - transmission of traditions and this commitment to the craft - that matter to me as a person,” she says, “and as the one tasked to steer a company forward.”