Alexandre Allard

Alexandre Allard
Born (1968-10-11) 11 October 1968
Washington D.C, United States
Nationality American and French
Occupation Positive and creative economy
Known for Balmain, MicroWorld, Faith Connexion and currently Cidade Matarazzo
Spouse(s) Laure Allard
Children 2
Website www.groupe-allard.com

Alexandre Allard (born 11 October 1969 in Washington, D.C.) is a French businessman known for the creation and the sale of Consodata and the restoration of the legendary Palace-Hotel Royal Monceau in Paris, France. He is currently developing a real estate and cultural project in São Paulo in Brazil.

Early life

Alexandre's father was an engineer in the public sector and his mother was a mathematics teacher. The eldest of three children, he grew up in Abidjan, (Ivory Coast, Africa). He moved to France at the age of 15 in 1984 and studied at the Saint Martin de France school where he gained his baccalaureat.

Beginnings

New technologies and business

After his baccalaureat, he started his business endeavors and opened his first office in a former butcher's shop in Puteaux near Paris. He developed Seaway Promer SARL in 1987, a company specialized in computer-assisted publishing, with his cousin, Pierre-Yves Gires. Exploring the possibilities for printing in the Macintosh system, he developed innovative services which enabled him to win many tenders with various companies and advertising agencies. He became a sought-after layout director of magazines such as Stratégies, L’Expansion, Le Nouvel Economiste and also advertising groups such as BDDP, RSCG, McCann-Erickson, Publicis, BBDO and Interpublic. In 1990, he launched Equation Graphique, a company focused on artistic direction for magazines. He started Pschitt in 1991 with Laurent Tordjman, pioneering in digital engraving. Those innovative technologies won him the Jacques Douce Young entrepreneurs award in 1990 and 1992. In 1991, he partnered with Gerard Bonvicini to create Diacom SA, a company of 300 employees in Paris. Aware of the inexorable boom of individual communication and of the lack of knowledge about information technologies, Diacom SA created an innovative system based on Macintosh's system to host the first database. A creative frontrunner of relationship marketing, the company was one of the first to develop a Customer Relationship Management system. Diacom SA became a partner of L'Oreal, BMW, Procter & Gamble. Allard teamed up with Cisco Systems and developed the first Oracle database linked to the Internet in 1994. Diacom SA extended its business partnership in the Silicon Valley and worked with Northern Telecom, Digital Equipment, Sun Microsystems, AT&T, Apple and Microsoft. The company won the Effie award of advertising in France in 1995.

Consodata

By the early 90's, as individual marketing became more influential than advertising, Allard decided to create a mutualized database shared by all advertisers. He sold his other companies to focus on Consodata. In five years, Consodata became the leader in the consumer information files and the biggest database with 580 million homes recorded and more than 10 000 clients. The company was floated on the Paris stock exchange in 1999. In 2000, Consodata was bought by Telecom Italia for 500 million Euros.[1]

Business and creativity

From 2000 onwards, Allard has focused on renovation projects of culturally significant buildings.

Qianmen

Allard developed many real estate refurbishment operations of listed building in Paris, Spain, Italia, London, Miami and Morocco. In 2004, alongside the Maeght Foundation of Art and the architect Christophe Dorey, he started the rehabilitation of Qianmen, a district in the historical center of Beijing. In 2006 he succeeded in having this area listed and protected by the city as cultural heritage.

Royal Monceau Hotel-Palace

After his attempt to buy the Conference Center of the French Foreign Office for 368 000 000 euros, Allard bought the legendary Palace Royal Monceau, which was facing financial difficulties, in June 2007.[2] The renovation started by auctioning off the furniture of the former hotel. The auction raised 3.3 million Euros.[3]

The Demolition Party

In June 26, 2008, Allard invited thousands of guests and celebrities to be a part of an artistic performance. They were given a helmet and a hammer each and invited to demolish the rooms, corridors and walls of the hotel. Meanwhile, 20 artists filled the venue with art works, videos, music and performances. They included Arne Quinze, Wang Du, André, Jean Feldman, Chen Man, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Irina Volkonskii, Xavier Veilhan, Nicolas Ullman, Daniel Toledo, Roberto Cabot.

The event won the Cannes Lions award in 2008 and best event award at Grand Prix Stratégies.[4]

The rebirth of Royal Monceau

Allard commissioned Philippe Starck to give the building a new lease of life.[5][6] Opened in 2010, the hotel has been acclaimed by the travel & leisure critics: Best Hotel in Europe, Best spa, Best restaurant, Best breakfast by the Michelin, Conde Nast Traveler, Best Hotel in France by Trip Advisor.[7]

The Hotel de la Marine

With Jean Nouvel and the former Minister of Culture and communication, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Allard proposed a project for the Hôtel de la Marine, located on the Place de la Concorde, after a call for projects launched by French State.[8] A Former royal furniture storage designed by the royal architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel, the Hôtel de la Marine is one of the jewels of 18th-century Paris. It provided a major stimulus for the arts and decorative arts in late 18th century France. For Allard, this brilliant history called for a custom-built project: La Royale. The project would give back its function to what was originally the royal furniture store: showcasing, promoting art and creativity. Creation, performing art and exhibition spaces for artists and craftsmen would transform the building into a landmark for the city. Parisians and tourists would be able to discover a major site of national heritage and see the best of the arts and crafts. Although 181 personalities of the cultural and art world signed a letter of support for the project La Royale, a commission set up to advise on the future use of the building recommended that the building be retained for the administration.

Cidade Matarazzo

Linked to the Paulista Avenue, the epicenter of São Paulo, by a pedestrian street, the former Matarazzo hospital is an emblematic listed building, a historical landmark of the city. Protected by the Brazilian building preservation laws, it comprises 19th century building inspired by Italian architecture. Acquired by Groupe Allard in 2011 to develop a project focused on culture, the three-hectare site is under restoration. The project has been already approved by the city and fedetal state. Pritzker-prize winning Jean Nouvel and the designer Philippe Starck have been appointed to work respectively on the architecture and the interior design of the former hospital and the Maternity unit attenant to it, which was abandoned in 1993.[9] The listed buildings are in process of refurbishement and will be transformed into a stylish development with a hotel operated in partnership with Rosewood Hotels & Resorts,[10] entertainment, services and cultural venues which are intended to become future landmarks of the City.[11] The opening is scheduled for 2018.[12]

Made by...Feito por Brasileiros

Presented as a preview of the upcoming Cidade Matarazzo’s spirit, a “Creative invasion” of artists heralded the return to life of the former Umberto Primo Hospital, known as the Hospital Matarazzo in September 2014.[13] Conceived by Allard, the exhibition gathered 100 artists that occupied the venue from September 5 to October 12. Amongst them Beatriz Milhazes, Vik Muniz, Xavier Veilhan, Jean-Michel Othoniel and Joana Vasconcelos. Made by... Feito Por Brasileiros was named best Culture event of 2014 the APCA, by the São Paulo Art critics' association APCA.[14]

Balmain

Since 2005, Allard has expanded his business links in the creative and crafts worlds. He became shareholder of the famous French fashion house Balmain in 2005 and worked alongside Alain Hivelin to reinvent the brand.

Faith Connexion

In 2009, Allard bought the Parisian pret-à-porter brand Faith Connexion. With a new team of designers, the brand collaborated with the American model and actress Annabelle Dexter Jones in 2012 to launch a capsule collection, followed by a collaboration with Isabeli Fontana in 2013. Faith Connexion launched a new economic model called Circle of Faith in 2015,[15] with the objective to balance the gross repartition between the brand and retailers and help young designers to promote their works as well.[16]

Culture partnerships and social responsibility

From the early 2000s, Allard has developed projects based on positive economy [17] and also supported cultural partnerships.

L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui

A bimonthly launched in the 1930s, L’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui[18] was for many years an iconic magazine in its field. It had fell into disarray, and publication stopped in late 2007. The French architect Jean Nouvel turned to Allard and François Fontès in order to relaunch the magazine by returning to its original spirit. Since November 2009, a new editorial board “open to all movements and all inventions,” was formed including Frank Gehry, Philippe Starck, Rudy Ricciotti, Winy Maas, among others.

Microworld

Groupe Allard founded by Allard in 2009 has participated in the conception and the financing of PlaNet Finance projects. In synch with the visionary strategy of Muhammad Yunus, the organization created by Jacques Attali focuses on battling poverty through micro-financed development projects. Convinced that supporting entrepreneurial initiatives is an innovative economic model to fight poverty and aware of new possibilities offered by the internet, Allard has created with PlaNet Finance an online microcredit platform, MicroWorld.[19] Allard is the co-founder and the President of Microworld since 2010.[20]

Art and Cultural partnerships

  • Exhibition Miro en son jardin - Fondation Maeght- Saint Paul de Vence - France (2009)
  • Exhibition Xavier Veilhan Versailles - Château de Versailles - France (2009)
  • Festival de la Correspondance - Grignan - France (2010)
  • Exhibition ''Jean Michel Basquiat- Musée d'Art Moderne de de Paris- France (2010)

References

  1. ↑ Resnick, Rosalind. "How I Sold My Company for $111 Million". Bloomberg. Retrieved 24 June 2003.
  2. ↑ "Paris, Royal Monceau". Wall Paper: 1. 9 February 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Luxury Hospitality Daily". Retrieved 14 April 2008.
  4. ↑ Duncan, Fiona (28 February 2011). "Paris hotels : getting it right on the rive droite". The Telegraph.
  5. ↑ White Wilson, Sara (10 March 2011). "Sublime Reincarnation". Bespoke Magazine: 4.
  6. ↑ Lam, Sophie. "24 hours room service : Le Royal Monceau". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "Le Royal Monceau awarded “Best Hotel in France” by TripAdvisor’s 2015 Travellers’ Choice". ITCM. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Erlanger, Steven (6 August 2010). "avy Building’s next tenant has Paris guessing". New York Times.
  9. ↑ "Rosewood Hotels & Resorts to expand in South America". Hospitalitydesign. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  10. ↑ Gay Nagle, Mayers. "Travel Weekly".
  11. ↑ "Rosewood Sao Paulo to open in 2018". Luxury travel magazine online. 23 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "Hospitality design".
  13. ↑ Van Straaten, Laura. "10 days in Brazil". Whitewall. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
  14. ↑ Pollack, Barbara (18 October 2014). "Made by Brazilians at Matarazzo Hospital". Artnews.
  15. ↑ Szmydke, Paulina. "Faith Connexion and L'Eclaireur set new retail model". WWD. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  16. ↑ Choufan, Liroy. "Faith Connexion challenges fashion Gospel". Business of Fashion. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "Alexandre Allard". Positive Economy Forum. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  18. ↑ "L'Architecture d'Aujourd' hui".
  19. ↑ "MicroWorld.org".
  20. ↑ "Capgemini Group, MicroWorld Launch Digital Microfinance Platform". Micro Capital. Retrieved 25 February 2012.

External links

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