Centdegres Creates the Symbols of Modern China Brands

Luxury professionals throughout the industry have heard of Centdegres. The design firm came up with Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fragile brand concept, and designed the blue concept for Gerlain’s Issima line. Those are just a few of its numerous accomplishments.

But few people know that Centdegres in fact started as a Hong Kong design firm in the late 1980s. The result of a meeting between Elie Papiernik and David Nitlich. Today, the firm has major stakes in Chinese luxury development throughout Mainland China.

Herborist Packaging

It all begins in 2006, when a chemical consortium known as Jahwa puts out a bid request for a firm to handle the brand concept identity (including visuals and packaging) for its Herborist line of skincare products.
Although Centdegres had left Honk Kong 20 years before, the firm is quick to regain a hand on the forgotten universe of Chinese tradition with its medicinal herbs and ancient magic textbooks.

Soon enough, Jahwa realizes the firm’s immense respect for Chinese culture, and its familiarity with its concepts. They also appreciate the team’s sincerity and its dedication to the project.

Thus begins an earnest and genuine cross-cultural cooperation effort. Centdegres is clearly sincere. And in return, Jahwa trusts the firm with its pharmaceutical secrets. Centdegres gets to visit old Shanghai herbal shops, has access to historical records, and discovers the symbolism behind Chinese plant and herb culture. Jahwa even relocates staff to Centdegres headquarters in Paris. At the end of the day, the Herborist brand is reborn. And its visual identity is chiseled back into an international brand present already present in 800 Chinese retail locations.

Shanghai Vive Shop in Peace Hotel Shanghai

Trust now reigns. No one can perform like Centdegre in China. And although Chinese brands would love to find agencies with their combination of skill and cultural knowledge, no other firm can even come close.

And so Centdegres opens up in Shanghai on an old warehouse roof. Then Jahwa gives Centdegres another mission. They decide to give them Shanghai Vive for its brand identity concept and retail locations. Sheme (pronounced “Sheemee”), a shoe brand, gives them a contract to do their Beijing boutique. And Fairwell, a woolen goods brand, goes the same route. Jala – a Jahwa competitor – also gives them a contract for the design and packaging of two costmetics brands, Maysu and Chcedo. Another cosmetics house, Bleu Nuit, solicits them as well.

It’s hard to resist asking Elie Papiernick: “What is it like working with Chinese people?” – “Risk-taking is in their DNA, and that’s a good thing. When they make mistakes, they correct course little by little. Sometimes they try to go too fast, and you need to throttle them a little, but anything’s possible, everything is open. As clients they respect your know-how, show great enthusiam for progress, and have very high expectations”.

Here you have the story of a typical cross-cultural Shanghai adventure. China creates new brands, and French firm Centdegres turns them into flagships of contemporary China. May Centdegres live long and prosper!