I have a Wulu around my neck. That's the Mandarin word for gourd, and a famous good-luck symbol in Asian culture roughly equivalent to the horseshoe in the West. I definitely do feel lucky today, because this particular wulu is inlaid with tiny, brilliant diamonds and retails for about $50,000 at Qeelin (pronounced KEE-lin), the Asian jewelry company now owned by French luxury giant Kering (formerly PPR).
我在脖子上挂了一个葫芦。葫芦是亚洲文化中有名的吉祥物，基本等同于西方的马蹄铁。我今天的确运气不错，这款镶有闪亮碎钻的葫芦在麒麟珠宝（Qeelin）的售价约50,000美元。这家亚洲珠宝公司现由法国奢侈品巨头开云（Kering，前身为PPR）所有。
From my perch on a sofa in Qeelin's sleek Hong Kong boutique, my luck continues. Co-founder and creative director Dennis Chan lets me model a diamond- and ruby-encrusted panda whose joints swivel and move (price: roughly $60,000), a lotus-flower ring that twists open to reveal an inner flower ($43,000), and many other pieces of jewelry with symbolic meanings in Asian culture. Named for a mythical Chinese creature, Qeelin has 19 stores in Asia and Europe, where -- now with the help of Kering -- it is trying to become one of the first successful luxury jewelry brands originating ... in the East. Such celebrities as Katy Perry and Kate Winslet are already fans of the jewelry, which teeters on the edge between sophisticated and kitschy and ranges in price from $440 for a tiny pendant to $600,000 for custom-made pieces.
坐在麒麟香港精品店内考究的沙发上小憩，我的好运还在延续。麒麟珠宝的联合创始人兼创意总监陈瑞麟让我试戴一款由钻石和红宝石镶嵌、连接处可以转动的熊猫（售价约60,000美元），一款荷花形戒指，扭开后会露出一朵花（43,000美元），还有其他很多有亚洲文化寓意的首饰。麒麟本身就是中国文化里的一种瑞兽，麒麟珠宝在亚洲和欧洲拥有19家店，现在在开云的帮助下——正在努力成为首批源自东方的成功奢侈珠宝品牌之一。著名歌手凯蒂•佩瑞、影星凯特•温斯莱特等明星已经是这些珠宝的粉丝。这些珠宝有简有繁，价格从440美元的小吊坠到600,000美元的定制产品，应有尽有。
But why, one wonders, would Kering, the $13.4-billion-in-2012-sales company that owns Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Bottega Veneta -- venerable European brands now increasingly dependent on the new Asian wealthy for their sales -- buy a 10-year-old upstart, especially one bent on proving that great quality isn't the sole provenance of European craftsmen? In part, Qeelin fits with Kering's strategy of buying top brands in areas where it doesn't already compete. But another major reason is that François-Henri Pinault, CEO and chairman of Kering, believes the new wealthy in China will increasingly support homegrown brands rather than always importing them. "[Qeelin] has all the components of a global luxury brand," Pinault says. "It is very demanding in terms of craftsmanship and has strong design. And let's not forget that China is one-fifth of the world population. So if a Chinese brand could succeed with the Chinese, then it's very interesting to take that bet."
但有人也许会问，为什么2012年销售额达到134亿美元、拥有古驰（Gucci）、圣罗兰（Saint Laurent）和葆蝶家（Bottega Veneta）（这些备受敬仰的欧洲品牌日益依赖亚洲新贵）的开云会收购一家成立仅十年的新星，特别是这样一家决心证明杰出品质并非欧洲手工艺人专属的公司。部分原因是，麒麟符合开云收购非竞争领域顶级品牌的策略。但另外一个主要原因是开云首席执行官兼董事长弗朗索瓦-亨利•皮诺相信中国新贵将日益增加对本土品牌的支持，不再是一味青睐进口。“（麒麟）拥有一个全球奢侈品牌的全部要素，”皮诺说。“它对手工艺的要求非常高，设计一流。而且，不要忘了中国拥有全球五分之一的人口。因此，如果一个华人品牌能够在华人市场取得成功，它就非常值得下注。”