Italian luxury brand, Buccellati, has appointed Nicolas Luchsinger as its new CEO, effective April 7.
Nicolas Luchsinger at the School Of American Ballet’s 2014 Winter Ball. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)
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Luchsinger has spent that past 17 years working various executive and managerial positions at Van Cleef & Arpels. He currently serves as president of the luxury brand’s Asia Pacific region. Previously he was international retail director and heritage director at its headquarters in Paris.
Buccellati and Van Cleef & Arpels are both subsidiaries of the Richemont Group.
Prior to being in Richemont, he worked for almost 10 years at Christie’s auction house.
Luchsinger replaces Gianluca Brozzetti, who held the top spot at Buccellati for nearly 10 years. No reason was given for the change.
Brozzetti will remain on the board of Buccellati Holding Italia Spa with the title of executive vice president, Richemont said in a brief statement. He is credited for “playing a crucial role” managing the transition when the Swiss luxury holding company acquired the Italian high jewelry and silver brand in 2019. He also is credited for “developing the Maison as a much larger jewelry and silver worldwide player.”
In his new role, Gianluca will manage “a complete handover of the business to Luchsinger, retaining a direct responsibility in the project of manufacturing expansion and consolidation,” Richemont said in its statement.
Gianluca will also keep the Buccellati’s representative role in industry associations and in the partnership with Scuola Orafa Ambrosiana, the goldsmith school in Milan.
Buccellati, founded in Milan in 1919, is one of the most prestigious jewelers in Italy, known for creating pieces using time-honored hand-crafted techniques. Its jewelry creations are renowned for their distinctive look-and-feel evoking silk, damask, tulle and linen. All jewelry pieces are handcrafted with techniques dating back to the Renaissance in Buccellati’s four in-house workshops, all located in Italy.
The company has an international presence particularly in Europe and the United States with branded stores and distribution agreements.
It has been a relatively calm period at Buccellati since the Richemont acquisition in 2019. Prior to this was a turbulent time for the high jewelry and silversmith company during the second decade of the 21st century.
Buccellati was 100 percent family owned until 2013 when Italian private equity company, Clessidra, acquired a 67 percent stake, with the remaining 33 percent retained by the founding family. A year later the company announced a rebranding effort aimed at attracting younger customers, naming Lucrezia Buccellati, 25-years-old at the time, as its first woman designer and the youngest person to hold that title. Her father, Andrea Buccellati, became president and creative director, later adding the title of chairman.
In 2017, Gangsu Gangtai Holding acquired an 85% stake in Buccellati with Clessidra and the Buccellati family retaining a 15 percent stake. The enterprise value of the company at the time was reportedly $282 million, according to a source close to the deal, adding that company revenues in 2015 were approximately $42.8 million.
In September 2019, Richemont acquired 100% of Buccellati in a private transaction with Gangtai Group Corp., for an undisclosed price.
