Eye: Tiffany & Co Opens The Blue Box Café At Fifth Ave Flagship On Friday As Twitter Derides $1000 Tin Can From New 'Everyday Objects'
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Channeling its 'Breakfast at Tiffany's heritage made famous by Audrey Hepburn, Tiffany & Co opens its first Blue Box Café overlooking the entry to Central Park and Bergdorf Goodman. The cafe shares space with Tiffany's wholly-renovated fourth floor housing its luxury home and accessories collection and represents the first major project from Reed Krakoff, who assumed his position as chief artistic officer in January.
Vanity Fair describes the effect as one of dining inside one of Tiffany’s famed blue boxes, like some Tiffany-crazed genie who prefers crisp right angles to a bottle’s curves. That is very much the point. “Design of the space began from the idea of immersion in Tiffany—not only the feeling of being inside a blue box, but surrounded by Tiffany hospitality,” Richard Moore, the vice president creative director overseeing all things store and window design, explained. Guests will first lock eyes with the view of the park, he hopes, and then they’ll see the sea of Tiffany blue, which they’ve “embraced throughout.”
The restaurant’s future patrons maybe be too young to have seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s, relying instead on a poster of Audrey Hepburn’s reflection in the store’s Fifth Avenue window. Setting a new auction record in September 2017, Tiffany & Co bought the original 1961 working script of the classic film for $846,619, making it the most expensive film script every bought at auction, according to Christies.
Tiffany 'Everyday Objects' Are Anything But
It's debatable that Reed Krakoff's launch of 'Everyday Objects' is having its desired effect, unless one lives in Trump Tower.
Krakoff, said of Everyday Objects: “What makes the collection unique is that it incorporates the best quality, craftsmanship and design with a level of functionality that allows you to use these things every day”.
Twitter users mocked the collection that includes a $9,000 sterling silver ball of yarn, a Tiffany Blue sterling magic marker for $750.00 or what the respected ArchDaily called a $1,275 Set of Drawing Tools for All The Stinking Rich Architects.
The $1000 tin can dove right into America's deadly serious income inequality debate, prompting references to being perfect for panhandling, prior to storming the Bastille in the French revolution.
To be clear, the real $1000 tin can is a baby bank, with Twitter users exerting artistic license over items in the collection.
Timed for a Christmas release, 'Everyday Objects' may give Tiffany & Co a much-needed infusion of brand integrity mojo. Bloomberg highlights Tiffany's struggles:
The New York-based jeweler has been going through a tumultuous year, with hedge fund activist Jana Partners LLC pushing for changes. It abruptly removed its chief executive officer and replaced him with former Diesel SpA executive Alessandro Bogliolo. Most recently, it hired longtime Ralph Lauren Corp. executive Roger Farah as chairman, while pledging to refresh its product designs and modernizing its stores.
Then again, it may highlight must-watch viewing of Netflix's 'Saving Capitalism', debuting on Netflix later in November. The documentary by Sari Gilman & Jacob Kornbluth is based on Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich's book of the same name.
