Bvlgari appears undeterred by the global crisis. On Wednesday, the Roman jewellery house inaugurated a newly expanded manufacturing site to double its production capacity by 2029.
Some 120 guests, including press and local authorities, attended the unveiling of the enlarged precious jewellery facility in Valenza, in Italy’s Piedmont region. A press conference with Bvlgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin (who is also CEO of LVMH Watches since 1 April in addition to his role at Bvlgari) and president of LVMH Italy Toni Belloni was followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a tour of the manufacturing site, where craftsmen work on all Bvlgari precious jewellery collections, including Serpenti and Divas’ Dream. (High jewellery is made in a separate atelier in Rome.)
Following extensive investment, the site has more than doubled in size from 14,000 to 33,000 square meters. Headcount has grown from 370 artisans 2017, when Bvlgari first opened its facility in the area, to 1,100 today. The workforce is expected to exceed 1,600 by 2029. “ We realised in 2020/2021 that our production site wouldn’t be enough. Demand was high,” said Babin during an interview on the eve of the inauguration.
From September, the site will also be home to Scuola Bvlgari, a new training school focused on jewellery, in addition to the existing Bvlgari jewellery academy, dedicated since 2017 to the training of newly hired Bvlgari craftsmen. The school will have 80 students per year and will be open to anyone to apply from 18 years old.
“Training is crucial, as Valenza is Italy’s largest jewellery area, but there are only 6,000 craftsmen and Bvlgari already employs 1,100,” said Babin. He explains that there are approximately 1,000 artisans working indirectly for Bvlgari at Bvlgari’s suppliers in Valenza, and focusing on recruiting locally might mean poaching staff from those suppliers. Better, then, to attract talents from elsewhere and train them. “ That’s why we created the academy in 2017, which has trained 700 craftsmen since its creation, and that is why we are adding the school. We went from 370 to 1,100 by attracting talent from Italy, Europe and Africa. Thirty nationalities already work here.”
The new facility is not just to increase production capacity, it’s also about increasing vertical integration by bringing more expertise in-house, while maintaining a network of suppliers.
“It s very important for us to master this expertise in-house — that’s the only way to be able to communicate effectively with our suppliers. But we’d be crazy to integrate everything,” said Babin. “We’d lose all flexibility, either upwards or downwards, because we’re in an uncertain world. We can have spikes — as we’ve seen post-Covid — where we have to ramp up volume, which, internally, would be very complicated. And then there can be periods of slowdown.”
Bvlgari has grown rapidly in the last five years. Sales were €3.47 billion in 2024, up from €2 billion in 2020, per Morgan Stanley estimates. Jewellery accounted for around 80 per cent of the turnover in 2024.
The LVMH watches and jewellery division, which includes Tiffany and Bvlgari, reported flat organic revenue in the first quarter — making it the top-performing division in the period. Bvlgari has proved resilient in the current turmoil, both in China and the US. LVMH chief financial officer Cécile Cabanis cited “a good Chinese New Year” for Bvlgari, while American demand for jewellery remained “well oriented” despite the context of uncertainty preceding President Trump’s tariffs announcement and subsequent updates.
Bvlgari produces the majority of its product categories, including jewellery, high jewellery, perfumes, silk and handbags, in Italy. There’s one exception: its watches are Swiss made. During LVMH’s first quarter conference call, analysts asked if LVMH would consider ramping up manufacturing in the US to mitigate potential tariff risks. Louis Vuitton and Tiffany already produce in the US. Would Bvlgari consider moving some production to the US if needed? “Given this [Valenza] opening, our need for [production] capacity is largely covered for the next 10 years,” said Babin.
The large-scale project, albeit decided long before the luxury downturn, is a testament to LVMH’s confidence in the future of the luxury industry. “I will refrain from making short-term forecasts, given the daily news, but instead I want to reiterate my confidence in the medium and long-term outlook, because that is the horizon which we deal with, which guides our strategies, on which we place our investments,” Belloni said during the conference.
LVMH Italy invested €500 million in projects in 2024. Last week, LVMH opened three new stores on Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone for Louis Vuitton, Tiffany and Bvlgari, with two more in the pipes, including Dior. Belloni also mentioned two other new industrial projects: a leather goods atelier near Florence for Louis Vuitton and a Loro Piana site in Ghemme, Piedmont, both slated for 2026.
“The best response to situations of uncertainty and difficulty is to do our work better, refining our infrastructure, creating new products, and bringing new ideas so that our brands are more and more desirable,” Belloni concluded.
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