One of the stories I love to tell about FiveCo is the birth of the Around Five brand
— created in collaboration with Philippe Vallat, with whom we have worked on many projects, over a dozen were designed by his team.
The story I remember most vividly about La Sculpture du Temps — the first object born from the Around Five brand — is that from the very beginning, Philippe and I had set a simple rule: we would only launch production once we had sold 100 pieces. We therefore offered our future clients the opportunity to sign a pre-order, with delivery of the piece to follow later.
And surprisingly, we secured our first 100 sales very quickly — if I remember correctly, in under a month or a month and a half. We then had to launch production of those first 100 pieces, each delivered with a certificate of authenticity.
A somewhat stressful human adventure, because Philippe and I had set the bar quite high — but we pulled it off. That first Sculpture du Temps, the most minimal version, with its brushed aluminium wave, remains a truly beautiful piece.
Antoine Lorotte