Bernard Arnault Honored for Contributions to Real Estate Sector
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WHAT GOES AROUND: Bernard Arnault has made his name as the entrepreneur behind the world’s largest luxury group, but on Thursday he was honored for his contribution to real estate, receiving the award from one of the world’s most famous architects.
Frank Gehry, who has collaborated with Arnault on several projects, most memorably the striking Fondation Louis Vuitton building near Paris, flew from Los Angeles for the Pierres d’Or ceremony held at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand hotel.
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“Working with Bernard Arnault is something of a pleasure, I can tell you. I recommend it for other architects. He’s an active and very committed client; he stays involved with the projects and with the detail,” Gehry told the crowd, made up of the French capital’s leading real estate executives.
“Both of us share a love for the arts, of course, but especially for classical music, so when we work on a project together, even the restrooms, we try to make music. It’s like a disease, isn’t it Bernard?” he added, directly addressing the chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
Accepting the special prize, which marked the 25th anniversary of the awards, Arnault recalled that he started his career with his family’s construction firm Ferret-Savinel, overseeing its transformation into real estate firm Ferinel. From those early days of overseeing the building of homes, offices and factories in France and the U.S., he has kept an abiding love of architecture.
“I haven’t practiced this profession in years, as you probably know, but it was then that I perceived the potential in combining entrepreneurship and creativity to come up with real estate products that sold a lot better because they had this creative, inventive dimension that made them stand out,” said the executive, who competes with Elon Musk for the title of the world’s richest man.
He noted that for more than three decades, LVMH has contributed to restoring historic buildings dating back to the Middle Ages, in addition to working on new projects with architects including Christian de Portzamparc, who designed the LVMH Tower in New York City. Arnault particularly enjoys working with Gehry.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “He’s a phenomenal architect but he’s very easy to work with. He’s not the kind of architect who says, ‘You pay the bills and I’ll handle the architecture, leave me alone.’ Not at all. We work together very closely.”
Arnault recalled the difficult gestation of the Fondation Louis Vuitton, which took 10 years to complete and has welcomed close to 10 million visitors since its opening in 2014. “Paris is not easy,” he said to applause. “Even when you have the support of the city of Paris or the government, you’re not out of the woods.”
He teased plans for a cognac museum, to be designed by Gehry, next to the Moët Hennessy cellars on the Charente river in Cognac, France. “It won’t be ready for several years because it’s a beautiful building, but again not very easy to build, with copper on the inside,” Arnault said.
Speaking to WWD after the ceremony, Arnault said he felt a duty to preserve Paris while helping to modernize the city.
LVMH has contributed 200 million euros to a fund to rebuild Notre-Dame Cathedral after it was destroyed by a fire in 2019, and has revitalized the neighboring Pont-Neuf area, where Pharrell Williams earlier this week showed his debut collection for Louis Vuitton on the French capital’s oldest bridge.
Although some left-wing city councillors criticized the luxury group’s use of a public space for its show, Arnault noted that LVMH’s investment has transformed the neighborhood, with the opening of the La Samaritaine department store and Cheval Blanc hotel in 2021 near Vuitton’s headquarters.
“I don’t know if you remember that little square down there. Ten years ago, nobody came there. There was no point. Now, it’s one of the liveliest places in Paris, and that’s terrific. And I believe that, frankly, without wanting to boast, it’s really thanks to us,” he said.
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