BUSINESS The intertwined design of this necklace represents the unbreakable bond of mother and child Gold-plated personalised necklace £89, mercimamanboutique.com
Founder Béatrice began the jewellery label after hand-engraving her own keepsake gifts
Tell us a bit about Merci Maman. Merci Maman was founded in 2007 by Béatrice De Montille. Béatrice’s friend had just had a baby, and she wanted to find a gift for her that emulated that special bond between mother and child. Unable to find anything suitable, she began handengraving personalised gifts and jewellery, and through word of mouth, we moved into our first office in 2011. Today, we’re a team of 40 (38 of which are female), headed up by Béatrice’s husband, Arnaud, and have offices in London, Paris and Berlin. Describe a typical day for you. I oversee the UK, US and ROW (Rest of the World) teams, which covers marketing, account management, customer services and production. It’s such a happy and caring environment, and everyone really supports each other. All of the production is done in our London office, so depending on which time of year it is, I’m usually working between the marketing and production teams, ensuring we have enough stock and that we can fulfil our 24-hour turnaround time.
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Personalised gold-plated bangle £39, mercimamanboutique.com
INSPIRE ALIX STANWORTH
The country manager of Merci Maman talks team spirit, spreading positivity and making time for family What are the brand’s values? We have four core values, which run through every aspect of the business. The first is ‘make’, which alludes to making something happen, from helping others to achieving your own daily goals. ‘Try’ means we continue to be ambitious and do our very best, no matter the outcome. ‘Share’ While working at Merci Maman, Alix has been able to also priortise her role as a mother
encourages team members to talk to those around them, sharing their knowledge and spreading positivity. Finally, ‘grow’ is a reference to the fact every day we learn something new. How do you maintain a good work/life balance? Merci Maman was founded
on celebrating family life and motherhood, and this is rooted deeply in the brand’s values. Working here has allowed me to work hard in my career while also being a mum to my two girls. All of the mothers at Merci Maman are encouraged to attend to their child’s sports days and Christmas concerts, which is so important, as these are memories you build for yourself and your little ones. What’s been your proudest business moment? Launching our Cath Kidston collection in February this year – it was a great success! Months of hard work went into it and we were so delighted to be able to collaborate with such an iconic British brand. What’s next for Merci Maman? Watch this space! We’re working on lots of exciting new projects at the moment. We’ve also just won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for a second time, in the international trade category, which is another huge achievement for us. mercimamanboutique.com