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Cartier CEO Delivers a Public Lecture to HSE – St. Petersburg Students

Cartier CEO Delivers a Public Lecture to HSE – St. Petersburg Students

© HSE University

In an open talk organized for HSE – St. Petersburg undergraduate and graduate students, Cartier CEO Cyrille Vigneron spoke about the role of the modern luxury industry in various spheres of public life including business, art, science, and education, as well as how modern management employs methods of quantum physics.

Cyrille Vigneron’s talk consisted of several thematic parts. In particular, he spoke about the principles and philosophy of managing a transnational corporation, the ‘quantum principle’ in managing risks and uncertainties in the art industry, and modern business development trends. He stressed that the need to introduce a scientific quality and a set of scientific tools for rational risk management is an urgent issue for the modern business environment, and therefore the use of quantum physics methods for strategic planning should be recognized as a reality and a normal phenomenon of our time.

He also shared with the audience his personal vision and his assessment of the changes taking place in the jewelry industry. The Cartier brand is committed to creating more than just expensive art, but spiritually meaningful pieces that focus on an individual’s personality. ‘We have a large consumer audience, and we do not strive to run after trends — that is why Cartier is not on the popular social network Tik-Tok. However, we ourselves set and create trends in the art business and luxury industry,’ said Mr. Vigneron.

After the lecture, students had the opportunity to ask the Cartier CEO questions. The conversation soon turned from the jewelry industry to management philosophy, the sociology of consumption among Generation Z, the role of jewelry artifacts as family heirlooms, and personal assets.

‘The Cartier event reminded me that jewelry and luxury goods are not just little trinkets that delight the human eye and give aesthetic pleasure,’ commented fourth-year student Denis Smetanin. ‘Jewelry art reflects a person both in and beyond time; it emphasizes their individuality and is able to convey them through time.’

Yanina Novitskaya, Managing Director of Cartier in Russia, Ukraine, and the CIS, described the event as ‘an incredible exchange of energy and opinions’ that ‘provided us with a unique opportunity to build a dialogue with an open, progressive, courageous young audience.’ She stressed that the questions raised by the HSE students ‘inspired and gave impetus to new ideas that will be especially valuable in building our strategy for Cartier in Russia.’

Sergey Kadochnikov, Director of the HSE Campus in St. Petersburg, noted the entire Cartier team’s interest in cooperating with HSE, and he expressed hope that the visit would lead to further collaboration in the form of specific joint projects. In turn, Irina Shchemeleva, Dean of the HSE – St. Petersburg School of Arts and the Humanities, added that during the visit, several ideas for further collaboration emerged at once. They discussed involving students in research conducted by Cartier and ‘even the possibility of an exhibition of works by students of the University’s ‘Design’ programme.

The open talk event with Cyrille Vigneron was organized by the Centre for Student Academic Development as part of the inter-campus effort to popularize modern trends in the field of R&D and demonstrate the connection between the university and real business for students who are in the process of defining their professional identities.

Andrey Kozhanov, Director of the Centre for Student Academic Development, HSE

It was important for us to organize a meeting with one of the foremost leaders and creators of jewelry who could answer students’ questions about the role of jewelry and the entire industry as the quintessence of modern science, as well as current educational approaches and trends in the art industry. Mr. Vigneron especially emphasized the importance of the correlation of modern educational, scientific, and artistic approaches and the correlation of such views with the HSE student community.