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Launched in 2018 by Picasso’s granddaughter, the jewelry brand has chosen to use pure 24-carat gold. And it likes it if the company’s development is anything to go by, having just unveiled its results for the second quarter of 2023.
In the Picasso family, making gold is in the genes. But while her grandfather, the famous painter, generated gold in abundance from his works, his granddaughter, Diana Widmaier-Picasso, works directly with this precious material.
Originally an art historian and curator, she co-founded the Menē jewelry brand in 2018, with Roy Sebag, head of a gold bank (which buys this metal to produce different alloys and carats before reselling them).
A disruptive brand in 24-carat gold
But there’s no question of creating yet another jewelry brand whose only asset would be to rely on the Picasso lineage and a People sales pitch… Even if it’s tempting to recall that Diana’s aunt Paloma was herself renowned in jewelry design, and that her prolific grandfather had himself imagined a few jewelry models.
But Menē’s approach is original in more ways than one. The first innovation is the use of 24-carat gold (and platinum). This is “extremely pure” gold, with which jewelry is rarely worked, as “it is more difficult to work and requires exceptional craftsmanship”, Diana Widmaier-Picasso explained to Harper’s Bazaar France.
Prices reassessed daily
Another disruption in the muted world of jewelry is the way in which the more than 600 models (bracelets, medallions, pendants, chains and other earrings…) are sold online on menē.com, “transparently by weight in grams”.
In this way, “customers can buy jewelry, track the value of their collection over time and sell or exchange their pieces by gram weight at current market prices”. Jewelry prices change from day to day, reflecting the price of the precious metal in real time.
Roy Sebag and Diana Widmaier-Picasso have set themselves “the mission of restoring the relationship between jewelry and savings”. Menē means “currency of exchange” in Aramaic!
Sustainable design
But Menē jewelry isn’t just an investment. Objects of seduction, they also display their aesthetic value with a timeless design where some will detect Byzantine or medieval inspiration. All of this is developed in workshops in New York using ethical gold sourced from American and Canadian mines.
The approach has been hailed not only by the press (Elle France, Gala, Harper’s Bazaar France, M Le Monde, The Men Style, Point de Vue…), lovers of success stories, but also by customers… who are asking for more. Menē sales to loyal customers accounted for 67% of total sales in the second quarter of 2023, ended June 30, 2023.
Sales down…
In the second quarter of 2023, Menē sold 149,000 pieces of jewelry and achieved IFRS sales of 5 million Canadian dollars (3.4 million euros). Even so, this represents a year-on-year (“YoY”) decline of 15%.
The brand admits that this “is its first significant year-on-year decline in front-line revenues”. But that it “was anticipated by management” and that it “reflects more a change in operational orientation than a lack of demand” for its products.
…but results are soaring!
The company also points out that “despite the year-on-year decline in sales”, this quarter’s financial results “demonstrate the growing resilience” of the brand “with positive operating income, adjusted EBITDA and even IFRS net income”.
The brand posted total income of 0.3 million Canadian dollars (0.2 million euros) and net income of 0.7 million Canadian dollars (0.5 million euros), representing spectacular year-on-year increases of +200% and +600% respectively!
Gross margin reached 1.5 million Canadian dollars (1 million euros), i.e. a gross margin of 30%, higher than that of the second quarter of 2022 (26%).
Structural changes
For all that, the company is anxious to deploy itself in good order and without haste. “From the point of view of the Board of Directors and the founders, we are not concerned with annual sales comparisons up to the end of 2023”, it assures us.
Over the next few quarters, its sales activity “will reflect a series of structural changes” concerning “both day-to-day operations” but also “longer-term strategy”.
“Our aim is to ensure that we make the right investments in people, processes and our brand, while preserving our tangible capital” Menē stresses in its financial release.
Recruitment
On the Human Resources side, the “successful” second-quarter transition of the CFO position “from Adil Sheikh to Gavin Johnson” is the first in a series of recruitments the brand plans to announce over the coming months.
The brand hopes to “attract the right executives with the experience, strategy and discipline to lead Menē into its next phase of growth”.
Featured photo : © Menē [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row njt-role=”not-logged-in”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Launched in 2018 by Picasso’s granddaughter, the jewelry brand has chosen to use pure 24-carat gold. And it likes it if the company’s development is anything to go by, having just unveiled its results for the second quarter of 2023.
In the Picasso family, making gold is in the genes. But while her grandfather, the famous painter, generated gold in abundance from his works, his granddaughter, Diana Widmaier-Picasso, works directly with this precious material.
Originally an art historian and curator, she co-founded the Menē jewelry brand in 2018, with Roy Sebag, head of a gold bank (which buys this metal to produce different alloys and carats before reselling them).
A disruptive brand in 24-carat gold
But there’s no question of creating yet another jewelry brand whose only asset would be to rely on the Picasso lineage and a People sales pitch… Even if it’s tempting to recall that Diana’s aunt Paloma was herself renowned in jewelry design, and that her prolific grandfather had himself imagined a few jewelry models.
But Menē’s approach is original in more ways than one. The first innovation is the use of 24-carat gold (and platinum). This is “extremely pure” gold, with which jewelry is rarely worked, as “it is more difficult to work and requires exceptional craftsmanship”, Diana Widmaier-Picasso explained to Harper’s Bazaar France.
Prices reassessed daily
Another disruption in the muted world of jewelry is the way in which the more than 600 models (bracelets, medallions, pendants, chains and other earrings…) are sold online on menē.com, “transparently by weight in grams”.
In this way, “customers can buy jewelry, track the value of their collection over time and sell or exchange their pieces by gram weight at current market prices”. Jewelry prices change from day to day, reflecting the price of the precious metal in real time.
Roy Sebag and Diana Widmaier-Picasso have set themselves “the mission of restoring the relationship between jewelry and savings”. Menē means “currency of exchange” in Aramaic!
Sustainable design
But Menē jewelry isn’t just an investment. Objects of seduction, they also display their aesthetic value with a timeless design where some will detect Byzantine or medieval inspiration. All of this is developed in workshops in New York using ethical gold sourced from American and Canadian mines.
The approach has been hailed not only by the press (Elle France, Gala, Harper’s Bazaar France, M Le Monde, The Men Style, Point de Vue…), lovers of success stories, but also by customers… who are asking for more. Menē sales to loyal customers accounted for 67% of total sales in the second quarter of 2023, ended June 30, 2023.
Sales down…
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Launched in 2018 by Picasso’s granddaughter, the jewelry brand has chosen to use pure 24-carat gold. And it likes it if the company’s development is anything to go by, having just unveiled its results for the second quarter of 2023.
In the Picasso family, making gold is in the genes. But while her grandfather, the famous painter, generated gold in abundance from his works, his granddaughter, Diana Widmaier-Picasso, works directly with this precious material.
Originally an art historian and curator, she co-founded the Menē jewelry brand in 2018, with Roy Sebag, head of a gold bank (which buys this metal to produce different alloys and carats before reselling them).
A disruptive brand in 24-carat gold
But there’s no question of creating yet another jewelry brand whose only asset would be to rely on the Picasso lineage and a People sales pitch… Even if it’s tempting to recall that Diana’s aunt Paloma was herself renowned in jewelry design, and that her prolific grandfather had himself imagined a few jewelry models.
But Menē’s approach is original in more ways than one. The first innovation is the use of 24-carat gold (and platinum). This is “extremely pure” gold, with which jewelry is rarely worked, as “it is more difficult to work and requires exceptional craftsmanship”, Diana Widmaier-Picasso explained to Harper’s Bazaar France.
Prices reassessed daily
Another disruption in the muted world of jewelry is the way in which the more than 600 models (bracelets, medallions, pendants, chains and other earrings…) are sold online on menē.com, “transparently by weight in grams”.
In this way, “customers can buy jewelry, track the value of their collection over time and sell or exchange their pieces by gram weight at current market prices”. Jewelry prices change from day to day, reflecting the price of the precious metal in real time.
Roy Sebag and Diana Widmaier-Picasso have set themselves “the mission of restoring the relationship between jewelry and savings”. Menē means “currency of exchange” in Aramaic!
Sustainable design
But Menē jewelry isn’t just an investment. Objects of seduction, they also display their aesthetic value with a timeless design where some will detect Byzantine or medieval inspiration. All of this is developed in workshops in New York using ethical gold sourced from American and Canadian mines.
The approach has been hailed not only by the press (Elle France, Gala, Harper’s Bazaar France, M Le Monde, The Men Style, Point de Vue…), lovers of success stories, but also by customers… who are asking for more. Menē sales to loyal customers accounted for 67% of total sales in the second quarter of 2023, ended June 30, 2023.
Sales down…
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[/vc_cta][vc_column_text]Featured photo : © Menē[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
