Portrait

Their concept, based on laboratory diamonds, advocates ethical and eco-responsible jewellery, offering collections of cultured diamonds and recycled gold at prices 30% to 40% lower than regular diamonds. Something to cringe the establishment on the Place Vendôme! The essence of the brand is summarized in 3 words: ethics, transparency and traceability of raw materials. Some already have begun to address this eco-responsible trend. Chopard, for example, creates jewellery with 100% ethical gold and Swarovski with the launch of the Swarovski Workshop, creating ethical collections with 100% synthetic diamonds. As for Manuel Mallen, the president of Courbet, he knows what he is talking about, having spent more than 25 years in watchmaking companies like Piaget, Baume and Mercier before buying and selling his shares of Poiray.

Tell us about your career ...

Born in Montbéliard (not far from Gustave Courbet), I am the only son of an entrepreneur father. But I have spent my youth near Bordeaux. Fan of Basque pelota, tennis and rugby, sports have been very important throughout my life and allowed me to meet people with different nationalities and backgrounds who I still see 30 years later! Friendship is really at the heart of my life. It was thanks to tennis that the door to Richemont opened for me. Indeed, I met the financial director of Cartier on a tennis court (smile.) At the time, Cartier had just bought Piaget and Baume and Mercier. Hence my entry to Piaget in Geneva and the chance to start right at the beginning of the project (90/93). Then on to Spain and back to France for Piaget in 2000. During this time, I organized rugby matches between Cartier and Baume & Mercier, that were met with great success and brought even more cohesion to the team. Then Alain Dominique Perrin offered me a job at Baume and Mercier where I stayed until 2013. Finally, in April 2013 I bought Poiray together with a partner and a fund. Unfortunately, a divergence of point of view made me leave in 2017 but also allowed me to fully focus on an ecological and ethical shop project around the synthetic diamond.

What was this project?

3/4 years ago, I visited Antwerp with a gemmologist to see his reaction to synthetic diamonds. He encouraged my idea to create a brand focused solely on laboratory diamonds, working with colored stones and recycled gold and highlighting two strengths: ecology and ethics. I then asked my future partner, Marie-Ann Wachtmeister, a Swedish creative designer if she wanted to join me In this project. She was the one who filed the patent of the interchangeability of Poiray watches. She has a keen interest in ecology and ethics. By launching this Courbet brand, we wanted to create a collection of sustainable, conscious and transparent jewellery. Creating jewellery with respect for ethics and ecology allows customers to have another vision of jewellery while continuing to dream and experience the emotion that the stones inspire.

Why did you choose Courbet's name?

I wanted a name that evokes the Place Vendôme and it turns out that the painter Gustave Courbet, painter of women and nature, was a communard and in April 1871 he was complicit in the destruction of the Vendome Column.

How are these diamonds made?

You should know that the synthetic diamond, like the regular carbon composed diamonds coming from mines, is created in three to four weeks and has the same characteristics as a true diamond. Only an expertise by a laboratory can detect the synthetic stone from the natural one and verify its atomic structure. Subject to high temperatures and pressures, the diamond takes shape, it is then cut by the same tailors that shape the diamond coming from mines. These diamonds have the same properties of hardness and brightness as the so-called natural stones. You should know that a machine creates about 15 to 20 diamonds a month and comes at a price 30 to 40% cheaper than natural diamonds. Today there are more than 10 laboratories, especially in the USA, capable of manufacturing synthetic diamonds that are comparable to natural diamonds, with the same chemical qualities, indices of refraction and purity equivalent as regular diamonds. At Courbet, we only take synthetic diamonds with VSF (Very Small Inclusions)

Do you have competitors?

Yes, especially in America. There is also another French brand, called Innocent Stone, which was founded in 2017. Last year, Swarovski also launched the Diama collection and Atelier Swarovski in the USA.

What is your objective?

Move the boundaries while creating beautiful products in an eco-responsible, ethic way with respect for the environment and ecology.

What is your price range?

Pieces ranging from € 350 to € 35,000 and more allow everyone to own a beautiful piece of jewellery. It is also our intention to surprise the customers who place online orders ...

How do you see luxury in 10 years?

I hope that in 10 years, luxury will be eco-responsible. Because each brand must take this serious and make an effort to work this way. Chopard, for example, took the lead in announcing transparency regarding the origin of raw materials, using ethical gold with the label "fair-mined". This gold was extracted according to extremely precise codes with strict rules for the protection of the environment and the economic and social development of the mining communities. The profession has also been working since 2003 on the Kimberley Process, which provides for the traceability of rough diamonds that often circulate and are used to finance wars and conflicts in Africa.

Do you know of schools that teach luxury?

Yes, there are several, especially Sup de Luxe, offering its students a year of study in the evening hours, allowing them to gain work experience during the day. With their extensive network of professionals in the luxury branch, who are willing to share their knowledge and experience with the students, this school offers a concrete and very rewarding training!

How would define your branding?

We position ourselves as a "jeweller of values" with an "S" and our base line is: "without good, beauty is nothing". Our goal is also to educate customers by making them aware of the issues.

Your definition of luxury?

"Moments" of sharing, meetings, children, family, friends and wonder!

The ultimate luxury?

Traveling and being in multiple places at the same time!

The luxury you cannot do without?

My freedom. I feel free and I like to travel.