Mad Lords, the recipe for success of the most secret jewelry boutique in Paris

• March 15 , 2021

While many concept stores are bearing the brunt of the absence of tourists, there is one that is not experiencing the crisis. Even expanding his empire during the turmoil, by opening a new setting in Deauville. Encounter.

The first time we met Serge and Caroline Muller , the founders of Mad Lords , was a good handful of years ago in Las Vegas for the very popular Couture Show jewelry fair. Discreet and efficient, the duo, who founded Mad Lords in 2012, identified and placed orders with their future favorite creators. At that time, Colette still reigned supreme on the Parisian scene and Net-A-Poter had just moved into online fine jewelry. Since then, the jewelry sector has changed profoundly, seeing giants disappear and others publicly display their lack of profitability.

A difficulty that Mad Lords has never experienced. And yet, for a neophyte in the field, the fact of having set up his shop at the bottom of a hidden courtyard on rue Saint-Honoré and of having a hundred designers at prices that could approach 150,000 euros could represent a . So how can we understand this Mad Lords paradox?

Perfect match

“We are very atypical and non-conformist,” explains Serge Muller. Mad Lords is not indexed to growth, trend or the rest of the world over which I have no control.” Regardless of how busy the street is or whether the stores are open on Sunday, the store cultivates its own ecosystem. And they hold on to this non-conformism because it is the very essence of their identity. Serge Muller did nothing like everyone else and claims it. Former head of finance, he turned to jewelry overnight. “I wanted to build a project around the idea of ​​a tribe. I realize that we embody something, a certain form of freedom,” he continues. “There is the sanitized world of Place Vendôme and the worldly sphere in sight. We don’t come from either of these two worlds, we are UFOs and we bring a form of freshness.”

Face of this community oscillating between rock and hippie chic: the heart family of the founders who have trusted them since the beginning ( Jacquie Aiche or M Cohen ). But also a host of new names who, for some, become instantly loyal, like the Turkish creator of Kismet by Milka who we found that day in full negotiation with Caroline Muller for a future four-handed project.

Because the other secret is that the two minds behind the brand never stop working. Their network, the projects (like the new concept launched in Deauville and perhaps a future branch in Saint-Tropez) but above all the clients who give them carte blanche. “We don’t do cold sales at Mad Lords, we always take customers by the hand. We always try to find out what people want and we tell them stories,” he adds. And they have a lot of story-telling, for example this hermit guru we met in Israel who only creates talisman jewelry for them and their eponymous line.

“It’s not a boutique, it’s not a concept store or a showroom, it’s a place where we exchange ideas.” The result ? Young designers who have barely arrived like Sibylle von Münster who say they are surprised by the number of sales they make, but also customers who order surprise unique pieces from artists like Sevan Biçakci while accepting not knowing what the final piece of jewelry will look like. Looks like.

Proof that nothing is a constraint in the separate bubble created by Serge and Caroline Muller.