Agnès's "Engaged Conversations" Series Welcomes Paul-Emmanuel Reiffers

“For it to be good, it has to hurt…” jokes Paul-Emmanuel Reiffers, a seasoned businessman and discerning collector, as he recalls his entry into the world of collecting, marked by two major purchases: one by Lalanne and one by Garouste.

Put simply, this man with a childlike laugh must tell himself, “I’m crazy!”

He lives and aims beyond his means, guaranteeing himself that adrenaline rush felt by those who always strive higher and farther. But his means and his dreams have come a long way in 35 years—since his early days rubbing shoulders with the greats, when he was head of the student union at the Sorbonne and brought figures like Jean-Claude Trichet, Bernard Arnault, François Pinault, and Édouard Balladur to speak to an audience of 2,000 to 3,000 students. He recalls those days fondly, noting that once he entered the workforce, it became much harder to secure meetings with these superstars who loved packed lecture halls!

“Inspired but not impressed,” recalls this young man in a hurry. Still a young man on the cusp of his 60s—“Youth? It’s a matter of plans and vital energy,” he says. He certainly has no shortage of it, fueled by champagne and the gym six times a week! And, always in a hurry, doesn’t he continue to stride forward on this Earth destined to function in a global and international way? This is something he understood very early on when, at age 27, he founded what would become the Mazarine Group, a group specializing in fashion, luxury, art, and culture—a group marked in Paris by an avenue of olive trees (his favorite tree) and boasting no fewer than 500 employees (600 following the very recent acquisition of Bacchus!) and 21 agencies located in Paris, Milan, New York, Shanghai, and Dubai. These are all quiet hives of activity from which extraordinary projects emerge in the service of luxury (La Mode en Images) and culture (Arter, an agency specializing in cultural events), allowing this realistic dreamer— “What’s exciting is dreaming,” he says—to combine his passions: creativity and artistic commitment.