This was published 1 year ago
If you haven’t had an opal martini, do you even know luxury?
A sip of Penfolds Grange will barely dampen the parched whistles of wealthy Australians. An opal martini is the new taste of luxury, served shaken, stirred and sparkling at the Opal Bar in the two-storey Sydney flagship of the French jewellery house Cartier.
Persistent queues across George Street at Louis Vuitton’s maison and the Apple Store have watched the airy boutique take shape, at a cost as elusive as the tags for P.O.A (price on application) diamond necklaces and rings.
Model Ruby Jean Wilson in Cartier’s new Oceania flagship store in Sydney, wearing price on application pieces.Credit: Janie Barrett
“The desire for luxury is getting higher,” says Alban du Mesnil, managing director of Cartier Oceania. “It’s part of the increasing sophistication of Australian clients.”
Billionaire philanthropist Monica Saunders Weinberg, the offspring of “Aussie John” Symond, Stephen Symond and Deborah Symond O’Neil and entrepreneur Justin Hemmes will hear the soothing sound of martini shakers at tonight’s exclusive opening party, but du Mesnil anticipates an appetite for luxury jewellery, watches and fragrances beyond regular rich-listers.
Ruby Jean Wilson on the staircase leading to the Opal Bar in Cartier’s new Sydney store.Credit: Janie Barrett
“In the past five years we have seen incredible momentum,” du Mesnil says. “Demand has increased in the same way as our ambitions. Australia became a priority as an international maison.”
Other luxury brands are fuelling the momentum, with Louis Vuitton erecting a pop-up gallery See LV, at Circular Quay, which has already welcomed an estimated 80,000 fans of the LV monogram since opening on November 3. On Tuesday night, the exhibition Gucci Gardens Archetypes opened at the Powerhouse Museum, where visitors walk through environments created for the brand’s advertising campaigns.
“This is an immersive, new generation way of engaging audiences with campaigns,” says Lisa Havilah, chief executive of the Powerhouse. “Gucci is selling Gucci through a reflection of Gucci. It’s very meta.”
“You can’t get around the fact it’s luxury, but it’s definitely creativity.”
The growing Australian enthusiasm for luxury label experiences has been incorporated into the light-filled Cartier boutique, which unlike LV See and Gucci Gardens Archetypes, has no closing date.
Woven artwork from Bula’bula Arts and Arnhem Land furniture makers Manapan is illuminated by a crystal stalactite pendant light by Melbourne industrial designer Christopher Boots. The flagship was conceived by the French design firm Agence Moinard Bétaille that worked on Cartier’s Paris, Milan and Geneva stores.
“This is a unique place where the Cartier elegance can meet Australian beauty in all the moments of the boutique,” du Mesnil says.
On the ground floor a personalisation station offers enhancements to leather pieces, while up the elliptical marble staircase, beyond the Opal Bar, VIP rooms await customers looking for more than the brand’s top-selling Love bracelet.
“The Love bracelet is such an icon in Australia,” du Mesnil says of the gold bracelet worn by Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussx. “It was the first strong connection that we could establish in Australia. We can see now, with this business extension, quite a significant broadening of what Australia wants from Cartier.”
“Our conversations with Australians are becoming more localised. We are very much present in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but we are now looking at Perth and New Zealand. This flagship is where you can enjoy the full Cartier universe.”
Just don’t enjoy it too much. An opal hangover doesn’t sound pretty.
Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox every Monday.