The jewels of Paris – The Sophie d’Agon style
Since 2017, Sophie Lepourry has been flawless. Her jewelry house looks like a self-portrait. The choice of the name of the house, first of all - Sophie d'Agon -, inspired by a small Norman town perched between the coast of Havres and the country of Coutances where the designer likes to recharge her batteries. The style of the creations, then, which reconciles the retro charm of Victorian pieces and the poetic delicacy of Japanese jewelry, all enhanced by a skilful use of color provided by a myriad of precious stones highlighted by a multitude of settings.
And, finally, mastery of strategy. "I like the creative processes as much as the marketing part of my job", admits the entrepreneur, who has strengthened her know-how over two decades within major luxury houses, at Hermès, Prada, then Saint Laurent where in 2012, during the Slimane years, she took over as head of global purchasing. It was in this last position that she forged a conviction: the sale of precious objects on digital is a tangible reality. “In particular by studying the selections made by the digital trading platforms that were our partners, I learned that the price was not an obstacle on the Internet as long as the pieces were well made. »
The future proves him right: success is immediately at the rendezvous. Not without hard work. “A year before showing my pieces, I got down to building a community on Instagram. This allowed me to sell as soon as I received my prototypes. Basically, my business model embodies the classic path of a house born on the Web. I am a “digital native vertical brand”, as we say in the jargon. A new way of selling that requires a solid method: "On the site, you have to be constantly reassured and ensure that the customer feels confident: this is the reason why we systematically organize ourselves with my team to be able to respond, from 9 a.m., to any request from the "chat". To be able to say, for example: "Don't worry: if the size doesn't fit, we change." The pandemic, insists the designer, has not dampened the enthusiasm for her creations, quite the contrary. “Everything stopped during the first two weeks of the first confinement. But, from the beginning of April 2020, I started to receive requests again. This winter, I broke sales records. And, generally speaking, this month of December was historic for the jewelry sector. »
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Method, then, but also flair. “My first creation, the YellowStone ring, with its concentric figures evoking the relief of the famous dormant volcano in Yellowstone National Park, in the American West, is still my bestseller today. The green model more precisely. Perhaps because emerald is a stone that suits all skin tones”, analyzes the designer, who seems as much at ease with the floral motifs of the Camélia collection as with the Art Deco mosaics of her Ava collection.
This creative vigor chiseled in 18-carat gold is now expressed in the house's first physical store, located on rue de Saintonge. “I've been living in the 3th arrondissement for twenty years, I searched for long months between the Cirque d'Hiver, the Carreau du Temple and the top of the Marais, it was here and nowhere else . A wall separates the sales area (which evokes the flowery and colorful universe of Walls of Dreams by Nina Koltchitskaia) from the office that manages the e-shop and distribution. "It's another lesson from my life before: in a big box, you rarely come to the store when you're at headquarters. We are disconnected from the field. I didn't want to create a configuration where the salespeople and the customer would be less listened to. » A thirst for exchanges which has enabled the house to seduce a young clientele sensitive to the finesse of the craftsmanship (everything is done by hand in a Portuguese workshop) and to the fairness of the price: from 425 euros for a ring set with precious stones and turquoise.Sophie d'Agon, 62, rue de Saintonge, Paris 3e, www.sophiedagon.com/fr
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