Luxury business has a new face

By life
New Delhi, March 3 Christie's announces the appointment of Emmanuel Danan as new Global Managing Director of Christie's Luxury. Reporting to Francis Belin, President of Christie's Asia Pacific, who oversees the Luxury, as well as the Asian and World Art departments globally, Emmanuel joins Christie's following the business' nearly billion-dollar year in global sales of Jewels, Watches, Wine and Handbags in 2022.

Based in Paris, as of February 20, Emmanuel will direct all aspects of Christie's luxury business across both live and online auctions and Private Sales and will work closely with colleagues across the specialist departments in New York, London, Geneva, Paris, and Hong Kong.

Francis Belin, President of Christie's Asia Pacific commented: "Emmanuel joins us at an exciting moment for Christie's following our record year and growth across the Luxury departments, both at auction and in our bespoke Private Sales business in 2022. His experience working across diverse markets internationally will provide an excellent framework to continue to move this part of our business forward."

Luxury purchases are the major point of entry for new clients to Christie's, and continue to drive the online sales platform, contributing more than half of all lots offered online. In 2022, the department achieved top prices for Jewels, including selling the largest white diamond ever offered at auction (228.31 cts) for $21.7M and The Fortune Pink, the largest pear-shaped, fancy vivid pink diamond ever to be sold at auction for $28.8M. Christie's Luxury also had an exceptional year for Wine, including the sale of The Visionary's Spectacular Cellar, which totalled $19.6M - becoming the most valuable single-owner wine collection ever sold at Christie's. Handbags & Accessories also achieved a global annual total of $32.8M, the highest ever for the category, and Watches saw numerous successes with single-owner collections, including Legendary and Unique Watches, which totalled $32M and was 100 per cent sold.

Emmanuel Danan joins Christie's from Maesa, a Bain Capital Private Equity portfolio company, where he was President for Europe and the Middle East. He has more than 22 years of experience in business, including 17 years with L'Oreal, where he was General Manager of L'Oreal Paris for Western Europe, based in Paris. Prior to joining L'Oreal, Emmanuel was a Consultant at Kearney. Originally from Paris, Emmanuel holds a Master's Degree in Business from EM Lyon and a Master's Degree in Organization Sociology from Sciences Po Paris.