WEEKEND
design—something that’s perfect and beautiful and at the same time, useful. It’s this idea of everyday luxury. AC: You’ve always considered yourself more of a brand architect than a designer. And so, on the face of it, some people might think, here’s Reed Krakoff, this pillar of fashion design, taking a job that is some ways a departure from that. How did you feel when you got the job? RK: First and foremost, I’m a designer. To be someone who can lead a brand, you have to understand and be able to do all the things that go into it; obviously, design’s a big piece of it. Marketing’s a big piece of it. Communications are a big part of it. I was incredibly honored to be the first chief artistic officer that the company ever had. They’ve actually never had a creative director before, so I’m overseeing all creative aspects.
AC: You grew up going to Tiffany as a child, coming in from Connecticut with your mother and looking at table settings made by Vladimir Kagan. Historically, Tiffany has obviously been considered a major luxury brand, and in some ways, for some people, it might seem daunting just to walk in those big doors. But you are making a real effort to really bring function and everyday objects into the mix. Why do you think that’s so important? RK: Just to back up: I have an incredible responsibility to be respectful of the past, to honor the past and, let’s say, to leverage and to hug the amazing past and the amazing history of Tiffany, but at the same time, it’s the beginning of a new chapter. It’s not any diversion or any change in direction at all. It’s really just a next chapter. You know, I’ve spent a lot of time in the archives. I’ve spent a lot of time talking with people within the brand, a lot of time speaking with people who have long been part of the brand and really understanding, really being in the brand itself. Spending time in the archives has been amazing, informative and given me a great foundation. To go forward, you need to understand what came before. We thought about motifs and themes that have run throughout Tiffany’s history. There’s been a long history of representing nature in all its forms. The idea of a flower motif seemed like a starting point. The trick was how to make it modern, while still being connected with the past, to create a contemporary, modern interpretation of nature within the jewelry selection. So we started playing with the motifs of the iris, abstracting it and slashing it out, cutting shapes out of paper.
“Tin” can in sterling silver from Reed Krakoff’s debut collection, inspired by Andy Warhol and the spirit of Tiffany circa the 1960s and 1970s.
OUT OF THE BOX
Direct from transforming Coach into a multibillion-dollar empire, Reed Krakoff took the reins at Tiffany & Co., where, as chief artistic officer, he has been on a Warholian mission to elevate the ordinary and make the rarified accessible. BY ALINA CHO
ALINA CHO: Let’s start at the beginning of your tenure at Tiffany: You started as chief artistic officer in February of 2017. The first day, you’re handed coffee in a paper cup in Tiffany blue, and you had a thought—what was it? REED KRAKOFF: The thought was that it was sort of the perfect representation of design and usefulness or utilitarianism, which is probably to me the foundation of American 92
Photo by Grant Cornett
AC: Let’s talk about that, because you’ve had quite an accomplished career. It’s well known that you were the face of Coach for many years. You brought that brand from $500 million to $4 billion and, and I’m sure that Tiffany knew that when they [laughter] hired you. RK: Yeah.
