With the recent announcement of the Nike x Tiffany & Co Air Force 1, it felt like the perfect opportunity to tell the story of the iconic brand to a new audience. From fine jewellery and royal families, to the trademarking of single colour the Tiffany & Co brand is almost inescapable in the modern world.

The brand itself was founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany whose fortunate upbringing allowed him the opportunity to found the company. Charles worked for his father, Comfort Tiffany, who owned a successful cotton manufacturing company. Charles worked for his father for a time. Starting at age 15 where he worked in his fathers general store, and later a mill owned by the family.

In 1837 at the age of 25, armed with a $1,000 loan (roughly $30,000 in today's currency) from his father, Charles Tiffany and his school friend John B. Young established Tiffany & Young opening a stationary and fine goods store at 259 on Broadway. The store would make a grand total of $4.98 ($153.96 today) in their first day of trading, however sales soon picked up keeping the pair in business for a while longer.

Within a couple of years the products on sale at Tiffany and Young had expanded, the pair were no longer just selling stationary and fine goods. The new range of products available expanded to include glass and porcelain products as well as watches and jewellery, both of which we will come on to later. Whilst the pair expanded their product range they did so in a calculated way, by sourcing their new goods from the local New York Port this allowed the company to sell the products at a discounted rate compared to competitors as they were buying direct from the source.

The 1840’s were the start of something special for the Tiffany brand, in 1841 Tiffany and Young took onboard a third investor in the company, a gentleman by the name of J. L. Ellis. Ellis allowed for a nationwide reach for the brand as brought on board capital. This allowed the group to propel themselves to the top of the American fine goods sector. A truly historical moment not only for Tiffany, but the entirety of the USA, the 1945 release of the Tiffany Blue Book.

The “Blue Book” was the first of its kind, the first direct mail catalogue ever sent out to American consumers, which Tiffany themselves say introduced Americans to luxury goods. The blue book is an annual release which features the world's rarest jewels, even today in a world where everything is online, clients can still request a blue book, which Tiffany has now been producing for over 100 years.

Towards the end of the 1840’s an unprecedented opportunity arose for the group. Amidst the French revolution many nobles and those of royal descent were looking for safe passage away from France leaving the chaos and revolt in the country behind them. This safe passage came at a cost, those looking to flee the country were well off and displaced, the only valuables they had left was their jewellery. Sensing the opportunity within the situation the group sent John B. Young to be the company's emissary in the capital. Upon his arrival in Paris Young started purchasing fine jewels and jewellery from the fleeing nobility and transporting them back to the states for distribution at the Broadway store.

This was the first time jewellery of such a calibre had been available for purchase on the shore of the United States, previously the American elite had purchased such pieces whilst away on tour in European countries. This level of craftsmanship or gemstones of historical significance had never been available outside of Europe or Asia.

With the 1850’s on the horizon and the group wanting to further expand their hold on the American luxury goods market, Charles Tiffany pathed the way. Tiffany proposed implementing the English Sterling Silver standard which is 92.5% pure silver. Sterling Silver had been used in Britain as far back as 1697, this silver is commonly known as 925. Charles Tiffany signed an agreement with John C. Moore a famous New York silversmith to produce Sterling Silver for Tiffany and Company, the brand was the first American fine jewellery distributor to implement Sterling Silver as the standard for their products.

With the introduction of Sterling Silver to the Tiffany brand the group saw the opportunity to create something unique. Prior to 1951 Tiffany, Young & Ellis had been distributing other jewellers works through the Tiffany store on Broadway and the now larger network of smaller stores. The group decided to introduce their own in-house product line made from Sterling Silver. With the introduction of the silver standard and the brand's own product line, Charles Tiffany decided to purchase his partners shares becoming the sole proprietor of Tiffany, Young & Ellis, swiftly changing the name to the one we now know, Tiffany & Co.

In 1953 after purchasing Tiffany from his partners Charles moved the company from 259 Broadway to 550. To commemorate the opening of the new Tiffany & Co store at 550 Broadway, Charles commissioned revered artist H. F. Metzler created the now iconic Atlas Clock which to this day stands above the main entrance of the Tiffany & Co flagship store in New York.

The early years of Tiffany & Co are filled with countless innovations and historical moments, almost too many to fit into one story, but you would expect as much from a brand that has been around for almost 200 years. Throughout the rest of the 1800’s Charles Lewis Tiffany accomplished many feats. Abraham Lincoln famously gifted his wife a Tiffany & Co necklace and earring set which she wore to his inauguration ball during the American Civil War. In 1866 Tiffany produced the “Tiffany Timer” the first American Produced pocket watch, in 1978 Charles purchased a 287 carat fancy yellow diamond which is still owned and displayed in the Tiffany flagship store to this day. It has now come to be known as the Tiffany Diamond.

Perhaps Tiffany & Co’s most notable accomplishments in the 1800’s were its redesign of the United States seal which is placed on the $1 bill; this redesigned version is still in circulation to this day. Finally Tiffany & Co also purchased the French Crown Jewels which were placed in Tiffany products and sold to the company's most important clientele. Of course Tiffany accomplished many other feats during his reign as founder of Tiffany & Co.

Unfortunately however all things must come to an end, on February 18th 1902, Charles Lewis Tiffany passed away. Ringing in a new century Charles' son Louis Comfort Tiffany took the reins of the company. Louis had a large void to fill, under his fathers guidance Tiffany & Co had flourished into a world renowned brand with stores in both Paris and London. When Louis took over he donned the mantle of Design Director, the first in the company's history. Louis as an artist himself renowned for his work in the Art Nouveau movement focused on more colourful and vibrant designs, something which Tiffany & Co draw inspiration from to do this day.

Louis tenure as Design Director at Tiffany & Co started in spectacular fashion, within his first 10 years leading the company the brand found two new gemstones, the first being Kunzite named after Dr George Frederick Kunz who was Tiffany & Co.'s in-house gemmologist, at the time Tiffany were the only retailer to have a gemmologist as a member of staff. Only 7 Years later in 1910 on expedition in Madagascar, Dr George Frederick Kunz would again discover another new gemstone, this time naming it Morganite in honour of the expeditions financier J.P. Morgan.

Between 1910 and 1940 there's no real ground-breaking or historically significant moments from Tiffany & Co, the brand did however continue to release numerous iconic collections and of course they sent out their yearly blue book to their valued clients. In 1940 however Tiffany & Co moved their flagship store once again. This time however it was not just a small move further up Broadway, Tiffany & Co relocated to the corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan bringing the iconic Atlas Clock with them. To this day the Tiffany & Co global flagship store stands on the corner of 57th and Fifth and has recently been renovated.

*Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's*

With a new store came new opportunities, Tiffany & Co enlisted the expertise of Gene Moore an American Designer. Moore’s window displays went on to become iconic works of art in their own right, one of his most famous is shown above. A claw pulling a Tiffany & Co diamond necklace from the ground, provocative and captivating, it was no wonder as to why spectators from all over the globe came to view Tiffany’s legendary window displays.

The Tiffany & Co window displays really went international when featured in the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in which an icon in her own right Audrey Hepburn was depicted eating a croissant glazing eagerly into the Tiffany stores window display. This was the first time the Tiffany & Co store had been featured on the silver screen, with Audrey Hepburn wearing Tiffany and the store being shown to millions the brand grew to new heights of popularity post “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” release.

The 1960’s was a busy period for Tiffany & Co, with the release of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” kicking off the decade, the brand kept the momentum going creating the NFL Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy for the inaugural Super Bowl. Towards the end of the 1960’s Tiffany & Co would continue its trend of contribution to gemmology finding yet another new gemstone, Tanzanite named after the country it was discovered in Tanzania was found at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. Tiffany & Co rounded out the 1960’s with arguably their most iconic design to date, the Tiffany & Co Keyring. The heart shaped keyring was assigned an individual serial number with the text reading “Return to Tiffany” where purchasers contact details were stored. The idea was that lost keyrings would be returned to the Tiffany & Co flagship store and would then be reunited with their rightful owners. The brand has recently relaunched the “Return to Tiffany” collection however it no longer has the same functionality it once did.

For the rest of the 1990’s Tiffany & Co evolved, hiring new creative minds such as Elsa Peretti who presented a more sculpture like jewellery model which largely changed the jewellery industry as a whole. The company yet again found another gemstone, Tsavorite, named after Tsavo National Park in which the gem was discovered, in 1978 Tiffany designed the NBA Championship trophy which stood nearly 2 feet tall. Tiffany went on to release a collection inspired by graffiti on New York city buildings from the 70’s, the collection was designed by Paloma Picasso, yes the daughter of iconic abstract artist Pablo Picasso.

To mark the new millennia the company founded The Tiffany & Co Foundation dedicated to conservation efforts. The foundation has donated over $98 Million to date. In its lifetime the foundation has sponsored the New York Botanical Gardens annual Orchid Show and research collection, an effort to stop fashion and jewellery brands using coral in products under the name “Too Precious to Wear” and assisted in the opening of countless galleries and museums dedicated to a vast array of subjects.

Perhaps Tiffany’s most notable act of the early 2000’s was working with Pantone, a company who developed an industry standard colour matching system. The two worked together to create the iconic “Tiffany Blue” although the colour is officially known as 1837 Blue named after the year the company was founded. Although Tiffany trademarked their iconic colour in 1998 it was not until 2001 that this colour had an official title and method to match the shade in the Pantone database.

Throughout the rest of the 2000’s and 2010’s Tiffany focused on sustainability and longevity, hiring their first Chief Sustainability Officer in 2015 pledging to begin operating net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Furthering their mission of conservation in 2017 Tiffany & Co launched the “Save the Wild” Collection in which 100% of the profits were donated to the Wildlife Conservation Network, sales from the collection allowed Tiffany & Co to pledge $4 Million in donations by 2019.

Although the brand seemed stronger than ever coming into the 2020’s the ever-present monopoly that is the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy Group (LVMH) approached to purchase the company. LVMH offered Tiffany & Co shareholders $16.6 Billion or $135 per share for the rights to Tiffany & Co. The deal was agreed however with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic LVMH tried to revoke the deal with the company. The two went to court over the matter and LVMH acquired Tiffany & Co for the discount rate of $15.8 Billion.

*Tiffany & Co Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711*

Since the LVMH acquisition Tiffany & Co has been captained by Bernard Arnault's 30 year old son and potential heir, Alexandre Arnault. Alexandre was tasked with bringing the Tiffany brand to a younger audience, before the takeover Tiffany & Co was a brand stuck in the past, the brand had not made any significant efforts forward and was trading on their longstanding name and history. The Arnault's have a longstanding record of bringing heritage brands to the modern consumer, whether this is a positive or not however depends on your views of the brand and industry as a whole, the most notable example of this is the Louis Vuitton Streetwear era, although this in itself can be attributed to the everchanging and more casual views of the next generation audience.

The influence of Alexandre Arnault is impossible to miss, his respect for Tiffany's heritage and what made them so popular to begin with is obvious, working with longstanding partner Patek Philippe to release a limited edition of 170 Patek Philippe 5711 models which were directly available through Tiffany New York. Patek and Tiffany have had a working relationship since 1851 where Tiffany & Co agreed to become the first official distributor for the Swiss watch Maison. This collaborative effort between the two was extremely important as it demonstrated that although under new ownership the brand's previous duties and heritage would not be forgotten.

*Dnaiel Arsham x Tiffany & Co Basket Ball*

However bringing on board new brand ambassadors such as Jay-Z and Beyone amidst Arnault’s continual collaborations with the likes of Supreme, Daniel Arsham and now Nike it is clear the brand intends to cater to a younger audience, although whilst doing so it still intends to keep is core demographic that its retained for the past 180 years.

With the backing of LVMH and younger talent at the helm, the future of Tiffany & Co is almost as bright as 1837 blue, with the launch of the Nike x Tiffany Air Force 1 on the horizon it will be captivating to see what role the Tiffany brand will play in the LVMH machine, I look forward to seeing all that they have in store for the ever so iconic Tiffany & Co.

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