At a conference I gave in China on the emergence of Chinese luxury brands, I had the opportunity of meeting an amazing person - Franz Chen. This extremely cultured man is a Taiwanese entrepreneur who, after being a subcontractor for several Western brands, created his own porcelain brand in 2002 - the Franz Collection - with one goal: to restore the ancestral savoir-faire of Chinese porcelain to its rightful place. To do so, he chose to focus on two aspects:
- On promoting R&D in porcelain, and installing his production units in the traditional porcelain manufacturing region in China.
- On working with well-known artists (Art Consultants) - some of them even helped to rediscover and modernize the traditional skills of the craft. For instance Chao Sun, a leading technical specialist in porcelain glazing and firing techniques, an artist whose work can be found among museum collections the world over.
Pursuing this endeavour, in 2006 Franz Chen formed a unique partnership with Jean Boggio, winner of the Talents du Luxe et de la Création 2011, to give a modern flavour to the Rococo style - a style which, in the 18th century, had a strong Chinese influence with floral designs, waves and sea shells as decorative motifs. This resulted in the "Jean Boggio for Franz" collection that is currently on display at Harrod's in London.
The ensemble is beautiful, unique, amazing: furniture that combines modern design with traditional Chinese forms in lacquered wood and porcelain, tea sets and tableware, amusing and decorative objects - all in bright colours (blue, red, purple, green), or in simple black and white. Prices are coherent: articles range from £100 to £ 6,000.
The stand at the recent Maison & Objet exhibition was also an illustration of the richness that this encounter between China and France has inspired.
I can but draw a parallel with Shang Xia - in both cases a profound inspiration that delves deep into Chinese tradition, the will to revive traditional techniques and skills, efforts on design and modernizing the style. In both cases, a strong positioning as a luxury brand - through history and roots, through quality and know-how, through pricing. I also see, in both cases, a return to the splendour of the Imperial Court of China - where the new Chinese luxury brands, to a certain extent, find their inspiration.
