Garden State

Reed Krakoff brings a luxurious sense of ease to his first high jewellery collection for Tiffany & Co.

- Holly Brubach

On Reed Krakoff’s first day as Tiffany & Co.’s chief artistic officer in February 2018, he was given coffee in a paper cup the colour of the store’s signature blue box, with the company’s name in black on the front. He loved it. There was “this utilitarian thing”, he recalls, “that was somehow romantic, being Tiffany Blue— perfectly useful but not plain.” Now, a year later, Tiffany is selling a bone china version of that paper cup—same shape, same blue, the name in black—along with silver plates crimped like standard-issue paper ones. He sees these as current examples of the irreverence and wit that inform some of his favourite products from the archives, like the sterling silver pillbox in the shape of a Chinese takeout container that Tiffany first sold back in the 1980s. The new objects are in many ways emblematic of Krakoff’s philosophy of “everyday luxury,” Tiffany items that are intended to be used and worn on a daily basis, as opposed to objects to be reserved for special occasions.

Sitting in a library down the hall from his office at the 181-year-old company’s Manhattan headquarters, Krakoff is doing one of the things he does best: talking about luxury. Tall with close-cut salt-and-pepper hair, he is dressed in his workweek uniform of jeans, a Turnbull & Asser shirt—today’s is a navy-and-white gingham check—and black oxfords, no socks. Black eyeglasses give him the slightly bookish air of a design nerd, an impression reinforced by the many references to objects, furniture, fashion, films, and paintings he weaves into conversation. He speaks softly, in a low voice, and quickly, as if he were propelled by his ideas.