At the age of 25, he laid the first stone of Achilles,
his jewelry house. Fifteen years later, he looks to the future with calmness.
Wake up time? 7:40am I like to sleep as much as possible and just need to jump out of bed to attack my day with 200 hours. After devoting myself to the children, I have to direct my energy by playing sports for an hour and a half. Every morning it’s boxing or capoeira.
In the video: “Green interview”. Courbet, a jeweler specializing in synthetic diamonds
If we have to go back to the origin. I grew up in a very small northern village, with a business owner father who always pushed me to believe in my dreams, and a mother who was passionate about jewelry, who introduced me to the beauty of stones. I began the adventure of Achilles, without even realizing it, at my end business school imagining a bracelet for my father. Plain chain bracelet with two blue sapphire cabochons on each side of the clasps. Word of mouth did the rest.
The device that started it all. I did everything by myself, I didn’t know anyone in the jewelry business. 2007 In November, just a few months after the launch of Akillis, I organized my first booth at the Basel fair. Submit models, certificates, imagine boxes, displays… When you start with a blank page, everything has to be done. In retrospect, it was exhausting, but an absolute pleasure.
The height of your position. Female orchestra. If I am lucky enough to have a general manager who comes from the luxury industry and runs a part of the company, I intervene in every detail, from the design of the jewelry to the image and videos. I even have a scalpel on my desk that allows me to cut away the wax models until I’m happy with the volume. I am constantly exploring new materials and pushing the technical boundaries of workshops. My other hat is people: customers, journalists… It takes a lot of energy and optimism to create a jewelry brand.
Results? 50% increase in sales compared to 2021. The main change for us, in particular, was the consolidation of the network in France and the development of more affordable jewelry. I started very young. Today I feel a new maturity in me. Where I needed large pieces to make a statement, it’s more and more natural for me to think about embellishments for everyday use.
An important moment in your career. Dinner at Trocadéro, organized on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the brand, 2018. in April. A spotlight that made us go from a rising brand to an important name. That evening we launched the new collection that has become the brand’s best seller, Capture-Moi.
Obstacles on the way. There always are. The challenge of time. Very high tension on the production chain in France. I do a lot of riding, I try to approach my professional life in the same way as show jumping.
It’s quiet for a moment… Come home and hug the kids and the dog. I have the ability to know very well how to compartmentalize my life to combat gloom and worry. And I multiply sports activities in the family in order to forget everything.
Your next challenges? Attract ever-growing customers. Conquer the growing American market without forgetting Asia.
What would you like to pass on to your children? Cost of labor and money. Today’s generation is very much in the virtual world, we need to anchor them in reality and help them stay positive. I consider it a priority.
Source: Le Figaro
