EXCLUSIVE: LVMH Métiers d’Art Creates Japan-based Branch
PARIS — LVMH Métiers d’Art is expanding the scope of its fine artistry and craft techniques with the creation of LVMH Métiers d’Art Japan, the luxury group revealed Monday.
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The Japan-based structure will be committed “to preserving and promoting [the country’s] know-how while exposing them to the major luxury brands, often European,” stated Jean Baptiste Voisin, chief strategy officer at LVMH Group and president of LVMH Métiers d’Art.
Norbert Leuret, president of LVMH Japan, said the decision would reinforce the strong existing connections between the group’s brands and Japan’s artistic and artisanal landscape.
Helming LVMH Métiers d’Art Japan will be 40-year-old Emina Morioka, who studied in France before joining the group’s watches and jewelry division in Japan to work in marketing and communication at luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer, later joining the group’s strategy department. She recently participated in the development of a rising Japanese boutique hotel brand.
Bi-cultural Morioka is described as “decisive in strengthening the connections between [French and Japanese] cultures, highlighting Japanese talents and forging the necessary links between them and [the group’s] houses and more generally our industry” by LVMH Métiers d’Art’s chief executive officer Matteo De Rosa.
Set up in 2015 to help the conglomerate’s houses build and maintain strong sourcing of rare materials, as well as education and training for the industry, LVMH Métiers d’Art acquired a stake in Spanish tannery Riba-Guixà the same year, in Italian tannery Masoni in 2019 and most recently, a majority stake in Heng Long Italy and a minority stake in leather and suede artisanal ready-to-wear manufacturer Robans.
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