EVENTS

With Baume By Baume & Mercier, A New Kind Of Company Is Born

by

Meaghan Corzine

|

This is the featured image caption
Credit: This is the featured image credit
Baume is disrupting the traditional business model by taking a new approach to company management. Richemont Group recently launched its new brand, an ambitious start-up aimed at reconnecting products with…

Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.

PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.

In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”

The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris

Baume is disrupting the traditional business model by taking a new approach to company management.

Richemont Group recently launched its new brand, an ambitious start-up aimed at reconnecting products with nature. The affordable, genderless line of watches has been making headlines for its decision to use recycled and sustainable materials, but the merchandise isn’t the only thing that distinguishes Baume from other players in the luxury league.

“The start-up model is probably the best way to describe the organisation and management approach, it’s the model that makes the most sense given the brand’s disruptive nature,” says Baume Head Marie Chassot. “As Baume’s ambition is to reconnect with nature we took inspiration from it, and an important dynamic that you find in nature is collaboration. You see this clearly when you’re in a forest or in the middle of a field, how everything has a well-defined role, working with each other to create balance.”

Image credit: Baume

Teal Organisation

The new company wanted to implement that same approach in the way that its team works internally, which ultimately led them to adopt a “Teal Organisation” structure, which consists of three key elements: Self-management, wholeness, and organisation as a living ecosystem.

“Team members are given complete trust, creating space for them to take on their responsibilities fully, with the support of a well-defined decision making process,” Chassot says.

When it comes to wholeness, Baume places a heavy emphasis on employees bringing diversity to the table. Part of this is based on shattering the concept of the workplace and home as separate entities.

“We need to encourage people to bring all aspects of their personality to the table and not leave anything at the door before entering the building. We need to make room for diversity, whether that refers to character, vision and background. This a huge source of wealth for a company and a key factor in its success,” Chassot explains.

The idea of managing companies in a more progressive way, starting with equality and internal harmony, is a trend that other luxury brands have also deemed worthy of exploration. Patagonia and Zappos are two examples of companies that have embraced a similar self-regulating style of management.

“The traditional hierarchical structure is being challenged as companies explore new ways of adapting their operations to remain agile and competitive in the fast-changing Digital Age,” Marc-Olivier Peyer points out. Peyer is Senior Digital Marketing Manager for agency DLG (Digital Luxury Group), based out of Geneva and Shanghai. “For organisations, it also boils down to creating a working environment that is fit to attract and retain the best talents.”

Baume vs. Baume & Mercier

While derivative of its parent brand, Baume & Mercier, it’s important to acknowledge the new line is very much a brand of its own—provocatively abandoning the concept of a hierarchical management and creating space for new energy.

“As we are operating with a horizontal management structure, there is a strong culture of opportunity management as opposed to the traditional hierarchical structure with multiple approval levels. The brands at Richemont are Maisons that have been around for centuries, with rich heritage and admirable savoir-faire, which also implies ways of working that have also been around for a long time,” Chassot explains.

Peyer also notes that Baume serves as a sort of experiment within the Richemont Group, and that some of the insights gleaned from it will likely be applied to other parts of the broader organisation.

Consumer Needs

Richemont recently opened an innovation lab in Switzerland – so was Baume created there? Not exactly. While the lab functions as an innovation hub for brands to work on new technologies, movements, product functions and more, it isn't the birthplace of Baume. It did, however, play an important role in its inception.

“[The innovation lab] provided an important environment where we made the decision to take part in the Viva Technology fair in Paris with key start-up partners. It was an amazing learning experience for the brand and provided a strong platform for us to introduce Baume to the wider tech and innovation community,” Chassot reveals.

At the end of the day, it is very much a brand based on the dynamics between team members and consumer needs. Their target is less of an age group, and more of a mentality. The aim is to offer an enriching and authentic journey from the team behind the brand to the customer experience.

“Our purpose is evolutionary, we want to grow with our clients, fulfil their aspirations and expectations while addressing the challenges of today’s world which concerns them as much as they do us,” Chassot says. “We had to build a team of likeminded individuals that shared a strong concern for our planet, an entrepreneurial spirit, a taste for risk taking and willingness to challenge the status quo, just like our customers.”

Cover Image Credit: Baume

Meaghan Corzine
Meaghan Corzine

Writer at Luxury Society

Before joining the editorial team at Luxury Society, Meaghan was based out of New York City writing for CBS New York and NBC Universal. A Washington-D.C. native, Meaghan also wrote for Washington Life Magazine while studying journalism at university. After moving to Switzerland in 2016, she went on to contribute to Metropolitan Magazine and CBS affiliates before joining the LS team.

EVENTS

With Baume By Baume & Mercier, A New Kind Of Company Is Born

by

Meaghan Corzine

|

This is the featured image caption
Credit : This is the featured image credit
Baume is disrupting the traditional business model by taking a new approach to company management. Richemont Group recently launched its new brand, an ambitious start-up aimed at reconnecting products with…

Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.

PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.

In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”

The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris

Baume is disrupting the traditional business model by taking a new approach to company management.

Richemont Group recently launched its new brand, an ambitious start-up aimed at reconnecting products with nature. The affordable, genderless line of watches has been making headlines for its decision to use recycled and sustainable materials, but the merchandise isn’t the only thing that distinguishes Baume from other players in the luxury league.

“The start-up model is probably the best way to describe the organisation and management approach, it’s the model that makes the most sense given the brand’s disruptive nature,” says Baume Head Marie Chassot. “As Baume’s ambition is to reconnect with nature we took inspiration from it, and an important dynamic that you find in nature is collaboration. You see this clearly when you’re in a forest or in the middle of a field, how everything has a well-defined role, working with each other to create balance.”

Image credit: Baume

Teal Organisation

The new company wanted to implement that same approach in the way that its team works internally, which ultimately led them to adopt a “Teal Organisation” structure, which consists of three key elements: Self-management, wholeness, and organisation as a living ecosystem.

“Team members are given complete trust, creating space for them to take on their responsibilities fully, with the support of a well-defined decision making process,” Chassot says.

When it comes to wholeness, Baume places a heavy emphasis on employees bringing diversity to the table. Part of this is based on shattering the concept of the workplace and home as separate entities.

“We need to encourage people to bring all aspects of their personality to the table and not leave anything at the door before entering the building. We need to make room for diversity, whether that refers to character, vision and background. This a huge source of wealth for a company and a key factor in its success,” Chassot explains.

The idea of managing companies in a more progressive way, starting with equality and internal harmony, is a trend that other luxury brands have also deemed worthy of exploration. Patagonia and Zappos are two examples of companies that have embraced a similar self-regulating style of management.

“The traditional hierarchical structure is being challenged as companies explore new ways of adapting their operations to remain agile and competitive in the fast-changing Digital Age,” Marc-Olivier Peyer points out. Peyer is Senior Digital Marketing Manager for agency DLG (Digital Luxury Group), based out of Geneva and Shanghai. “For organisations, it also boils down to creating a working environment that is fit to attract and retain the best talents.”

Baume vs. Baume & Mercier

While derivative of its parent brand, Baume & Mercier, it’s important to acknowledge the new line is very much a brand of its own—provocatively abandoning the concept of a hierarchical management and creating space for new energy.

“As we are operating with a horizontal management structure, there is a strong culture of opportunity management as opposed to the traditional hierarchical structure with multiple approval levels. The brands at Richemont are Maisons that have been around for centuries, with rich heritage and admirable savoir-faire, which also implies ways of working that have also been around for a long time,” Chassot explains.

Peyer also notes that Baume serves as a sort of experiment within the Richemont Group, and that some of the insights gleaned from it will likely be applied to other parts of the broader organisation.

Consumer Needs

Richemont recently opened an innovation lab in Switzerland – so was Baume created there? Not exactly. While the lab functions as an innovation hub for brands to work on new technologies, movements, product functions and more, it isn't the birthplace of Baume. It did, however, play an important role in its inception.

“[The innovation lab] provided an important environment where we made the decision to take part in the Viva Technology fair in Paris with key start-up partners. It was an amazing learning experience for the brand and provided a strong platform for us to introduce Baume to the wider tech and innovation community,” Chassot reveals.

At the end of the day, it is very much a brand based on the dynamics between team members and consumer needs. Their target is less of an age group, and more of a mentality. The aim is to offer an enriching and authentic journey from the team behind the brand to the customer experience.

“Our purpose is evolutionary, we want to grow with our clients, fulfil their aspirations and expectations while addressing the challenges of today’s world which concerns them as much as they do us,” Chassot says. “We had to build a team of likeminded individuals that shared a strong concern for our planet, an entrepreneurial spirit, a taste for risk taking and willingness to challenge the status quo, just like our customers.”

Cover Image Credit: Baume

Meaghan Corzine
Meaghan Corzine

Writer at Luxury Society

Before joining the editorial team at Luxury Society, Meaghan was based out of New York City writing for CBS New York and NBC Universal. A Washington-D.C. native, Meaghan also wrote for Washington Life Magazine while studying journalism at university. After moving to Switzerland in 2016, she went on to contribute to Metropolitan Magazine and CBS affiliates before joining the LS team.

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