Off the cuff: Robert Tateossian

Former banker Robert Tateossian has no time for buttons; Shannon Denny meets Fulham's own king of the cufflink

Robert Tateossian is a modern-day Midas. Much of what he touches turns to gold, although an awful lot of sterling silver appears at his fingertips too. He doesn't keep this gift for splendour to himself however; for almost two decades, Tateossian's eponymous jewellery label has made sartorial success as simple as a flip of the wrist.

For while Midas ruled a city in the ancient world, Robert Tateossian has been called the king of cufflinks. Today Tateossian is sold in 50 countries at over 1,000 outlets, including the finest department stores on earth:Tsum in Moscow; Bloomingdales and Saks Fifth Avenue in New York; Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and Harrods inLondon. You can buy signature sparklers on British Airways, American Airlines, All Nippon, JAL and Singapore Airways flights. There are stand-alone shops in the City and on the King's Road, and two additional outlets opened in Bicester Village and Westfield last year. Further shops will launch in Orlando and Vancouver in 2009, and Robert is scouting for a store location in Tokyo too. It seems his kingdom stretches even further than the original ruler with the golden touch.

"It really all happened by accident!" Robert laughs when we sit down at his riverside headquarters in Imperial Wharf. After seven years working on Wall Street and in the City, "I decided I wanted to go do something on my own," he says.

"I wasn't quite sure what it was going to be, travelled around the world, happened to be in Thailand, came across some silver jewellery and cufflinks, brought them back, showed them to Harrods, they bought some. In a nutshell that's how the whole thing started."

What began as a holiday jolly for a tired-out banker metamorphosed into a business before Tateossian's own eyes. "Six months later the buyer calls me up and is like, 'Oh can we look at the new collection?' I said, 'New collection? That was like a one-off thing!'" He brushed the vacation sand out of his hair and quickly regained his head for business, hiring a team to help him produce a collection. "We started with men's cufflinks, which still is today our main product line. Then we moved on to men's jewellery, then ladies' jewellery, then into watches, then into men's gold cufflinks, then women's gold jewellery, and now we're going into something even more unique, which is one-off men's gold pieces."

Having a knack for numbers and a background in a bank was no doubt useful in the bookkeeping end of the Tateossian equation, while a degree from the prestigious Wharton School of Finance must have helped too. But perhaps even more important was a different kind of talent; thanks to an unusual international upbringing, RobertTateossian has a serious eye for style.

A handsome Lebanese, Palestinian and Armenian mix, Tateossian was born in Kuwait and raised in Italy. He studied in international schools and speaks seven languages. "I grew up in Rome, and if you grow up in Rome you're surrounded by fashion. And because I spoke Italian, I always had to escort all my parents' friends who were visiting from Kuwait and didn't speak a word of English or Italian to all the stores." While squiring sheiks' wives from one boutique to another, he was subconsciously getting a solid grounding in how to dress, which serves him well in his current work.

Today Tateossian's designs have unbelievably widespread appeal. The international fan base runs the gamut from Korean popstars to Eva Longoria to Middle Eastern emirs to the Queen of Spain. Back in Britain you'll often see Elton John's partner David Furnish in Tateossian cufflinks.
Tateossian spends about 70 percent of his time travelling the world to visit suppliers, customers, trade shows, and family and the occasional holiday, however when he's in Britain, he hardly sets foot outside Fulham.

"I always wanted to be by the water, that's first and foremost," he says as we watch a barge float by. "When I worked at Merrill Lynch I had to schlep 45 minutes every day by car. I was like, 'When I have my own business I want to be able to walk to work!'"

He's certainly stuck to his word: "When I first moved to London, which was 23 years ago now, I bought a flat on Drayton Gardens. Then I bought a house on the Fulham Road. Originally the offices were on the Fulham Road, in fact literally diagonally from where I live now. So my whole life has been in this area. It's so central, it's close to Heathrow, it's very cosmopolitan, lots of shops - I love it."

There's one corner of his local empire that he's not happy with though, and it's inside his own closet. He says he "only" has 70 or 80 pairs of cufflinks at home, so I'm curious to know how he keeps the collection in order. "You know what? It's all dumped in those Muji acrylic drawers with dividers, all stacked up on top of each other. It's a work in progress!" he exclaims with exasperation. So that's one frontier at least that this sharp-dressed sovereign has left to conquer.

www.tateossian.com

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