下一個珠寶奢侈品牌將有可能生在中國

I have a Wulu around my neck. That's the Mandarin word for gourd, and a famous good-luck symbol in Asian culture roughly equivalent to the horseshoe in the West. I definitely do feel lucky today, because this particular wulu is inlaid with tiny, brilliant diamonds and retails for about $50,000 at Qeelin (pronounced KEE-lin), the Asian jewelry company now owned by French luxury giant Kering (formerly PPR).

我在脖子上掛了一個葫蘆。葫蘆是亞洲文化中有名的吉祥物，基本等同於西方的馬蹄鐵。我今天的確運氣不錯，這款鑲有閃亮碎鑽的葫蘆在麒麟珠寶（Qeelin）的售價約50,000美元。這家亞洲珠寶公司現由法國奢侈品巨頭開雲（Kering，前身爲PPR）所有。

From my perch on a sofa in Qeelin's sleek Hong Kong boutique, my luck continues. Co-founder and creative director Dennis Chan lets me model a diamond- and ruby-encrusted panda whose joints swivel and move (price: roughly $60,000), a lotus-flower ring that twists open to reveal an inner flower ($43,000), and many other pieces of jewelry with symbolic meanings in Asian culture. Named for a mythical Chinese creature, Qeelin has 19 stores in Asia and Europe, where -- now with the help of Kering -- it is trying to become one of the first successful luxury jewelry brands originating ... in the East. Such celebrities as Katy Perry and Kate Winslet are already fans of the jewelry, which teeters on the edge between sophisticated and kitschy and ranges in price from $440 for a tiny pendant to $600,000 for custom-made pieces.

坐在麒麟香港精品店內考究的沙發上小憩，我的好運還在延續。麒麟珠寶的聯合創始人兼創意總監陳瑞麟讓我試戴一款由鑽石和紅寶石鑲嵌、連接處可以轉動的熊貓（售價約60,000美元），一款荷花形戒指，扭開後會露出一朵花（43,000美元），還有其他很多有亞洲文化寓意的首飾。麒麟本身就是中國文化裏的一種瑞獸，麒麟珠寶在亞洲和歐洲擁有19家店，現在在開雲的幫助下——正在努力成爲首批源自東方的成功奢侈珠寶品牌之一。著名歌手凱蒂•佩瑞、影星凱特•溫斯萊特等明星已經是這些珠寶的粉絲。這些珠寶有簡有繁，價格從440美元的小吊墜到600,000美元的定製產品，應有盡有。

But why, one wonders, would Kering, the $13.4-billion-in-2012-sales company that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Bottega Veneta -- venerable European brands now increasingly dependent on the new Asian wealthy for their sales -- buy a 10-year-old upstart, especially one bent on proving that great quality isn't the sole provenance of European craftsmen? In part, Qeelin fits with Kering's strategy of buying top brands in areas where it doesn't already compete. But another major reason is that François-Henri Pinault, CEO and chairman of Kering, believes the new wealthy in China will increasingly support homegrown brands rather than always importing them. "[Qeelin] has all the components of a global luxury brand," Pinault says. "It is very demanding in terms of craftsmanship and has strong design. And let's not forget that China is one-fifth of the world population. So if a Chinese brand could succeed with the Chinese, then it's very interesting to take that bet."

但有人也許會問，爲什麼2012年銷售額達到134億美元、擁有古馳（Gucci）、聖羅蘭（Saint Laurent）和葆蝶家（Bottega Veneta）（這些備受敬仰的歐洲品牌日益依賴亞洲新貴）的開雲會收購一家成立僅十年的新星，特別是這樣一家決心證明傑出品質並非歐洲手工藝人專屬的公司。部分原因是，麒麟符合開雲收購非競爭領域頂級品牌的策略。但另外一個主要原因是開雲首席執行官兼董事長弗朗索瓦-亨利•皮諾相信中國新貴將日益增加對本土品牌的支持，不再是一味青睞進口。“（麒麟）擁有一個全球奢侈品牌的全部要素，”皮諾說。“它對手工藝的要求非常高，設計一流。而且，不要忘了中國擁有全球五分之一的人口。因此，如果一個華人品牌能夠在華人市場取得成功，它就非常值得下注。”