"Ah, the client mentioned this point. They said that the payment this time would be something from a French brand, Lacloche Frères, which was once said to rival Cartier," Joan of Arc said as she read the email.
"Ah, that’s not just a rumor, my dear Jeanne," Liang En reacted immediately upon hearing the brand name. "It was indeed a very important jewelry brand back in the day."
Lacloche was a jewelry brand established by the Lacloche family in Paris in 1892. It gained significant fame at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts due to its stunning exhibits.
At that time, its reputation was on par with now-famous brands like Cartier and Bvlgari. Its designs were avant-garde and luxurious, making it extremely popular among the upper class.
This brand played an extraordinary role in the history of European jewelry, redefining "luxury" and truly promoting it as a lifestyle.
As for how it achieved this, it was simple—designers combined jewelry with everyday objects, creating a rebellious, avant-garde, and flamboyant fashion attitude.
In this style, precious gems were no longer just hidden away in the safes of nobles and the wealthy but appeared openly in daily life, allowing the wearers to shine in their own light.
Or, in more fashionable terms, this brand provided the wealthy with a way to flaunt their wealth all the time, pushing luxury to its extreme.
For example, they first became famous for their jewelry boxes, such as those gold-encrusted with gemstones and painted with oriental designs, which were extremely popular among the upper class at the time and were highly sought-after luxury items.
Later, they also made lipstick cases and powder boxes, all very luxurious, handcrafted with various gemstones. Compared to these, most special edition cosmetics today would be considered rubbish.
Moreover, the Lacloche shop was located next to Guerlain, so after buying a box, the ladies could go next door to purchase lipstick and powder, then put them in the box—a very good way of integrating jewelry into daily life.
In addition, the brand had another feature: watches designed as jade necklaces. At that time, it was considered quite crude for a lady to wear a watch, as watches were meant for men.
So Lacloche embedded a tiny watch on the back of a jade necklace, allowing women to discreetly check the time while maintaining elegance and meeting their needs.
Unlike Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, Lacloche aimed to create a truly luxurious lifestyle for its customers.
They made diamond-encrusted cufflinks, hat pins exquisitely carved from rubies and sapphires, even gold-constructed sewing and candy boxes, gemstone-encrusted canes, diamond-studded hairpins, and customized luxurious parasols with jeweled handles for use in hot climates.
This kind of bespoke jewelry service, where there was nothing Lacloche couldn’t do, quickly sparked a Lacloche craze in Paris.
More importantly, Lacloche displayed a more international style in its designs. It extensively used oriental art styles in its jewelry, creating many Buddha-shaped brooches and jewelry, and incorporated jade heavily into its designs.
Even from today’s perspective, those jewelry designs are still not outdated, which was something other brands couldn't achieve in the early to mid-20th century.
At the same time, their Oriental Look jewelry series, which perfectly replicated Egyptian murals and Chinese landscape paintings using diamonds and colored gemstones, added a touch of ancient, mysterious cultural flavor to these luxurious pieces.
Under these circumstances, they built a commercial empire spanning Europe and America in just a few decades. But their decline was just as rapid, to the point where now their beautiful works can only be seen at auctions and in museums.
This decline was related to bad luck. In 1920, Jacques, a family member, tragically died in a train derailment, forcing the Lacloche brothers to close the Spanish business Jacques primarily managed and refocus on France.
After his brother Fernand returned to France from Spain, where he and Jacques had established their business, he did protect and train Jacques' son, young Jacques, well, but he himself became addicted to gambling, leaving the family with heavy debts.
Young Jacques took over the family business with his uncle's help, but his interest in the jewelry business was far less than his interest in decorative arts and gallery business.
During World War II, the family’s Jewish identity dealt a heavy blow to the Lacloche commercial empire. For example, most of the powerful Gompers family, a major shareholder, perished in Auschwitz.
In 1944, the entire Gompers family disappeared, and the Lacloche family didn't fare much better. The persecution of Jews during the war forced the family to continuously shrink and sell off their business.
The worst part was that after the war ended, the era of kings and queens was over, and the emergence of new wealth in the jewelry industry made competition fierce.
This situation led young Jacques, now the pillar of the Lacloche family business, to lose interest in the jewelry business and turn to the contemporary art industry, which marked the end of the brand.
And now, it’s the Lacloche family that has asked Liang En to design jewelry. They hope to revive the brand, which is why they invited Liang En to design for them.
Of course, the price they offered is definitely not small. The so-called "giving the brand to Liang En" is not just a joke. According to the email, they are willing to offer half of the shares and the title of Chief Design Consultant as compensation.
Many people know that in a jewelry company, an important title is Chief Designer. But considering that Liang En is not a professional jewelry designer, they even specially created a title equivalent to Chief Designer.
One has to say, they are indeed very sincere, so Liang En is very interested in their invitation. Since he’s currently staying on the farm where he previously discovered a palace and can't go anywhere, this is a perfect time to coordinate such matters.
"My boss, it’s basically confirmed now," Elizabeth Bathory reported to Liang En after spending only a few hours sorting out the situation.
"The family you asked me to investigate indeed plans to make a big comeback in the jewelry industry, so they’ve been preparing on a large scale since half a year ago. They just couldn’t find a master-level jewelry designer willing to work for them."
"Can’t find one? How is that possible?" Liang En asked in surprise. "Their history is on par with the top-tier jewelry brands. How could they not find anyone?"
"The problem is they’ve been out of the industry for too long, so most of their connections in the jewelry world have vanished," Elizabeth said helplessly.
"So after half a year of hard work, they did manage to find a lot of craftsmen and designers, and they prepared storefronts in Paris, London, Berlin, Rome, and Madrid, but they still don’t have a core designer."
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