News Vacheron Constantin is pleased to announce the creation of the Cercle 250, association of corporate sponsors that have been in business without interruption for more than 250 years, the aim of which is to organise exceptional meetings intended to safeguard and celebrate the excellence of time-honoured expertise by encouraging innovative cultural projects.
From the splendour of the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, humanity has fashioned a world in which craftsmanship, with its profound awareness of and respect for gesture and material, gives rise to art and beauty. Did the industrial age signal the end of these trades? Fortunately not! Certain skills - important ones - have stood the test of time, such as those practised at our watchmaking manufacture, born in 1755, for example. Throughout its history, the foundations of Vacheron Constantin have been built on five core values: the pursuit of excellence, support for creativity, openness to the world, the transmission of knowledge and the sharing of passion.
Such a journey back in time conjures up rare emotions. This was true in yesteryear and remains so today. It is precisely such perpetual renewal that ignites the sparks of creation. And it is as part of this shared quest for perfection that we must win acclaim, promote ideas, question our thinking, show respect for tradition, listen to our intuition and encourage daring, all the while like the movement of a pendulum swinging between tradition and modernity. This creative energy, guarantor of the past and promising for the future, has now found a new home in the Cercle 250. Corporate sponsors joining the group will be committed to supporting expertise that is often obscure, encouraging the transmission of artistic skills and extolling the value of these exceptional techniques.
The mission of Cercle 250 is to encourage and promote, through its projects, the values of excellence and commitment to manual skill, based on a humanistic vision of work that its members represent. The encouragement of the transmission of skills, communication activities and economic development initiatives that underpin its approach are designed to respond to the challenges currently facing the world of Artistic Crafts. From exhibitions to evening events, these encounters will offer a forum for enlightening meetings between Cercle 250 member companies, their partners and target audiences, against a backdrop of sharing and generosity. As founder and president of Cercle 250, Vacheron Constantin will have the honour of recruiting member contributors to form the Committee of the Cercle 250.
Responding to the distinguished criteria set by Cercle 250 world-wide, some 150 luxury companies in the Arts of tableware, lifestyle, gastronomy and finery, are identified and recruited to join the association. These companies that create exceptional products will be invited to the Artistic Crafts Round Table: around which a producer of beautiful French silk may well be seated next to the world's oldest paper mill in Italy, a 17th-century Japanese cutlery company or a British perfumer, creator of exclusive fragrances since the 18th-century. Heirs to centuries-old knowledge, these leading companies will jointly initiate and sponsor a minimum of one annual project, which will have a special significance for Cercle 250’s activity. Their human and financial resources will make a full contribution to the prestige of the project. Through the Cercle 250, they will affirm a spirit of openness and will create a forum for special exchanges, arousing the curiosity of customers, experts, amateur enthusiasts, opinion leaders, partners, artists and audiences from all walks of life. The number of core criteria for admission to the Cercle 250 is a symbolic five. Each future member must be able to look back on 250 years of continuous history, be able to draw on a high degree of manufacturing skill, demonstrate control of their value chain, possess a common heritage of core values and prove a level of international influence.
The projects, approved by the Cercle 250, will be featured in shared exhibitions, private and public events, symposia and workshop visits. Cercle 250 will expand its remit in response to its target audiences, inviting them behind the scenes to explore the creative process of the maisons involved, offering them, so to speak, real moments, suspended in time, in the company of fascinating works and skills.
Vacheron Constantin has undertaken to sponsor the first project of 2012, which takes the form of support to the Bodmer Foundation, specialising in the conservation and restoration of ancient manuscripts with a view to saving this world heritage for posterity. Other projects will follow, arising from meetings of members of the Cercle 250.
Vacheron Constantin is delighted to launch the Cercle 250, serving future members, contributors, prize winners and aficionados throughout the world. Members of the Cercle 250 and its scientific and cultural committee will have the pleasure of initiating the next call for projects in 2013, paying immediate tribute to the men and women who possess such talent and know-how in their hands.
April 17, 2012
