“From time to time, the Vienna Philharmonic could play without a conductor because they are so good.”

I take time to get close to, and I don’t immediately throw my arms round someone.

When you are on the management side, you still have to understand the artistic sensibility so that there is a dialogue with the creative side.

Luxury goods are the only area in which it is possible to make luxury margins.

I like that combination between creativity and the creative process and the organization needed to make a business like this successful worldwide.

I think this is a challenge we face, how the global region will evolve in stability with such a fast growth. If they succeed to do that, no doubt, in the next generation it will be the major area of the world, economically.

It is not enough to have a talented designer; the management must be inspired too. The creative process is very disorganised; the production process has to be very rational.

What we do in our group is the opposite of the bad effects of globalization. We produce in Italy and in France and we sell to China, when usually it’s the opposite.

A good product can last forever.

When something has to be done, do it! In France we are full of good ideas, but we rarely put them into practice.

Luxury goods are the only area in which it is possible to make luxury margins.

I think in business, you have to learn to be patient. Maybe I’m not very patient myself. But I think that I’ve learned the most is be able to wait for something and get it when it’s the right time.

What we do in our group is the opposite of the bad effects of globalization. We produce in Italy and in France and we sell to China, when usually it’s the opposite.

Louis Vuitton, the world’s biggest luxury brand in terms of sales, is planning to dampen its expansion worldwide and focus on high-end products to preserve its exclusive image.

Working in the context of ultra-famous brands like Dior and Vuitton, creative spirits are always going to feel reined in. It’s important that they are free to develop ideas. And rather than detracting from the principal job, it reinforces it. I think of that money as venture capital. It’s not a big investment.

Affordable luxury – these are two words that don’t go together.

China is clearly going to be the number one economic power and it is already full of potential.. with lots of population and the buying power increasing by the day. .

I might be a sand-hog, burrowing away and losing my health for $8 a day. I might be a street-car conductor at $12 or $15 a week.

Directors have a tendency to use their hands like orchestra conductors.

I was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad.