“We’re Not Going Through An Evolution, We’re Going Through A Revolution”: Pascal Mouawad On The Future of The Family Business
The Co-Guardian of the brand sits down with Bazaar Arabia to talk expansion plans, the famed Miss Universe crowns and what 2023 has in store for Mouawad…
The secret to Mouawad’s success lies within its family roots. It’s something Pascal Mouawad is extremely proud of – and rightfully so. Five generations of the family have worked across the luxury jewellery and watchmaking business; not many other brands within the industry can boast similar claims.
As a co-guardian of the brand – a term the three fourth generation Mouawad brothers Alain, Pascal and Fred use to describe their special role and relationship with the family run business – founded by his great grandfather in 1908 in Lebanon, there is clearly an immense sense of responsibility to ensure its legacy lives on to its full potential.
For decades Mouawad has catered to the bespoke needs of royalty, celebrity and private clients from around the world – but change is now in the air. A fresh chapter is soon ready to unfold within the house’s history and Pascal is ready to share what he can about this new era.
Here, he reveals to Harper’s Bazaar Arabia what we can expect to see from Mouawad in the upcoming months, including the opening of three new boutiques and an e-commerce platform, along with the greatest lessons he’s learned from his father and how the next generation of the young Mouawads have started to leave their mark on the remarkable family business.
Harper’s Bazaar Arabia (HBA): We’re curious to know more about the concept of the Mouawad Co-Guardians. What does it mean to you to be one?
Pascal Mouawad (PM): As you know we are a family-run business. We span over five generations – I’m a member of the fourth generation. My two brothers have children and they both joined the business this year and late last year, so we now have five generations in the business.
We decided to give ourselves the titles of co-guardianship. We are the gatekeepers of the brand… We put professional management in place to run the day-to-day operations of the business and we also work closely with the management team on the strategy and the future of the company. So… co-guardian means gatekeepers, it means that we’re brand ambassadors, and we all carry the same last name as the company.
Our goal is to make sure that our business succeeds in the future for multiple generations to come.
HBA: How are the responsibilities divided between each Co-Guardian? Does someone oversee, say, retail or are the responsibilities of the business split equally between the three of you?
PM: We all have very specific roles – we’re all brand ambassadors, which means you’re the face of the brand, you help develop relationships, you make sales with the Ultra High Net Worth individuals. That being said, when it comes to operational roles, every member of the family has a very distinct role. I’m the executive chairman of the company. My two brothers are board members, they’re not involved in the operations of the business, and my niece and nephew have operational roles in the creative department and in the marketing department. Co-guardianship does not mean you work in the business; you’re a member of the family, a gatekeeper, and brand ambassador.
HBA: There will be a number of Mouawad boutiques opening up this year around the world. What can we expect to see from these new flagships?
PM: We are now on the verge of international expansion. We have three boutiques underway. One is going to be in Beverly Hills on Rodeo Drive; it’s our entry into the US market in a bigger way. We used to wholesale our brand years ago in the US market, but this is our first flagship store in the United States. It will be accompanied by an ecommerce website that will be selling our products online – we’re very excited about that… And then we have London… we’re opening a store at The Peninsula, located in a very prestigious location [in Belgravia.] The hotel itself cost over £1.1 billon (Dhs5.5billion) to build over the last ten years, so it’s going to be an iconic property. It’s a partnership with the hotel – The Peninsula approached us years ago and we decided to partner up with them. We opened our first boutique in Hong Kong in The Peninsula there and this summer we’re opening at The Peninsula in London.
We also have an third store in the pipeline for this year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My cousin operates a nice luxury business there and he decided to continue the course that he started over two decades ago. This year, we’ll be seeing three new flagship stores, in addition to an e-commerce website that will showcase the jewellery that we want to sell online.
HBA: This year’s Miss Universe crown was called “Force for Good” and in years past the crown was titled “Power of Unity”. Can you share any insight into what goes into the crown and its name?
PM: What I can tell you is that the underlying idea behind the Miss Universe voice, when it comes to marketing, is woman empowerment. So every crown that we did carries a particular name, carries a message of women empowerment.
HBA: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will be making a comeback this year. Having created the iconic Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra, will Mouawad be involved in any way in this year’s show?
PM: Well, I recently heard that Victoria’s Secret is going to be having a show… I’m not sure what that show will look like, the management of Victoria’s Secret has completed changed from when I used to work with them. I don’t have a particular dialogue going on today with them, so… do we have plans on being part of the show? At this time, we do not. That’s something we may consider, we haven’t heard of them coming up with a Fantasy Bra idea either… I think a lot of question marks have to be answered here.
The Miss Universe sponsorship has one more year, it would give us that five year mark. We are proceeding with Miss Universe to have a crown, another year of sponsorship with them and to see whether to renew that sponsorship or not come 2025.
HBA: What’s the greatest lesson you learned from your father?
PM: My father always taught my brothers and me that hard work is essential in running a business – and your reputation is very important. Your reputation is everything you have. It took us 100 years to build our name and you could lose it in one day. So integrity, reputation, hard work and honesty is really important. A jeweller is like a doctor; people go to a jeweler because they trust their jeweler, they trust that whatever you’re disclosing in terms of stones and craftsmanship is actually what it is.
HBA: What else is in store for Mouawad in 2023?
PM: We are going through a complete transformation of the brand. Not only are we having a new store opening, but we’re also giving our brand new facelift so we’re coming up with a new logo, with a new corporate color, with a new store identity. We’ve hired a new team of designers… we’re going to have new designs – new jewellery collections that are going to be iconic; a new creative director and a new creative team to come up with our campaigns.
Come the fourth quarter of this year, you’ll see Mouawad as a completely transformed company, at least as a start, and then you’ll see the rollout going into the future, starting 2024 and onward. So, very exciting times for us as we’re expanding internationally, as we are rebranding, as they’re revamping and transforming our company. I’d like to say that we’re not going through an evolution, we’re going through a revolution – and that’s basically where we are right now.
For more information, visit mouawad.com
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