Dear Alumni,

This week, we are very happy to present you a brand new Alumni & Entrepreneur portrait, the one of Serena Cancellier (IFM Entrepreneur 2019), founder of Studio Cancellier and her eponymous brand. 

Hello Serena, 

In this delicate period, everyone is focused on issues related to the current health crisis, but we are very eager to exchange with you on your adventure, your successes and your entrepreneurial projects!

So before we get into the context of April 2020, let's get into this interview together... To get us started we have a Test Question ....

Our first question is the most difficult of all ... but it is to make you feel comfortable ....

-Who is the designer who inspired you the most and what do you think you can do better? 

Well, that's a really difficult question. To name just one designer, for me, it's impossible. In my life, I've had the chance to work with many designers, all very different. When you're a designer, the emotional part is quite important. I have great admiration for these people who have shaped my life and my creations. I've read a lot of books about Chanel, Saint Laurent, Madame Grès and the incredible story of the Missoni family. 

As a designer, we feed off this mix of inspirations that will form first memories that will themselves lead us to new ideas. 

And of course, not every designer will bring back the same memories when he designs for Missoni or for Hermès. 

Having said that, if I had to give my very first inspiration, I would say that it was my mother's. She gave me the love for fabrics. She was passionate about them. My grandmother owned a flower shop. That was my second inspiration. In the end, it is these two beautiful memories that I like to bring back in my creations today.

Indeed it's very beautiful, but unfortunately you don't look comfortable enough yet so we propose you .... A second test question - and this is probably the easiest of all: 

-What's your favorite dress, your favorite thing to wear?... and well, maybe it's not that easy? But can you tell us why that particular garment?

I would say that my favorite garments change according to the period. So I'm going to tell you about my crush of the moment: it's a dress from Raptus and Rose. I'm a big fan of them, they're very simple little dresses. The model I'm wearing is called perfecto dress, and indeed, this dress is really perfect ! It's a 90's style, it is declined in several colors ... I must say ... I bought them all. And above all, it's a very easy dress to wear : with a sweater, heels or in basketball.  I highly recommend it, for home or for going out!

It was a very good question in the end, thank you for this discovery! …. So our third question is the coolest and most useless of all questions ....

 - If you had to eat more than one dish, which one would it be? Do you think this has anything to do with your current activity?

It's not a dish... But right now I'm thinking about figs! I love figs. In all its variations: as a jam, as a marmalade, to eat alone or accompanied... It's a real delight. There are several kinds, which grow several times a year, isn't it wonderful? 

For me, figs are a memory of summer in Italy, in the south of the country to be precise, figs grow and form in the heat. I have a very precise memory of those sweet moments, coming back from the beach, we had the right to some ripe figs, a delight!

Well, that's good, now we know you much better... We can start our Alphabet interview.  

Don't worry, we've been very selective about the letters... 

Question A - Let's start with the letter A...

And so let's start at the beginning of your story. What happened? Where did Cancellier Studio and Cancellier Paris come from?

After a 17-year career with leading Italian and French luxury houses such as Marc Jacobs, Bottega Veneta, Christian Louboutin, Vionnet, Balmain and Prada, I made what is called a burn-out. At that time, I was in charge of leather goods in a well-known house. At the end of my contract, I could no longer continue on this pattern and I decided to go freelance. But first I had to mature my project and above all, I had this need to go back to school. So I joined the IFM's entrepreneurial program. This program helped me to (re)discover myself and put my ideas in order. Two months before joining the IFM program, I opened my consulting firm, Studio Cancellier, and created my brand Cancellier Paris.

Studio Cancellier is dedicated to the design and organization of leather goods collections. I rapidly found a Junior designer which allowed me to dedicate myself to the search for clients. 

The first year, it was just about building the firm, but very quickly, I found the ideal client. A great Italian brand. An independent brand with a philosophy totally in line with my values. A true happiness. 

At the same time, between 2019 and 2020, I did some mentoring for the Colombian Fashion Chamber. I was part of an "accelerator program" for 20 Colombian brands. A great experience, I met young designers full of energy. Some had very innovative ideas, others were driven by strong ecological convictions.

Finally, I created my own brand, Cancellier Paris. I design handbags with a "fantastic reaction", bags that bring happiness, fantasy. I sell my bags via Instagram and on my own e-commerce site : https://cancellierparis.com  @cancellierparis.

Today, thanks to my collection of handbags, I have been selected to participate in the Hyères Festival, initially planned for April 2020 and postponed to October.

Question B as Breaking point

-At some point you made this decision to start your own business - how did this switch-over take place?

This was done very quickly. In October 2018, I ended my contract with Balmain and immediately opened my studio. My first contract, with Moncler, allowed me to start in December.  Then everything happened very quickly, in April 2019, I joined the IFM entrepreneur program and launched my Cancellier Paris collection. The year 2019 was intense for me, I was very busy between my studio and my classes at the IFM. I was happy, fulfilled, I had found a certain balance.

Question C as Counsel…

-What is the highest quality for an entrepreneur?  Who do you think can become an entrepreneur? How to be successful? Would you give special advice to a student who want to be an entrepreneur?

In my opinion, the first quality is the organization! Having a studio and managing a team requires organization. Thanks to my experiences at Louboutin and Balmain, I had the opportunity to handle important responsibilities: managing the prototyping factories, working with assistants and various external partners. So this was nothing new for my business. 

However, this time it's my money that's at stake.

In my opinion, the first quality is the organization! Having a studio and managing a team requires organization. Thanks to my experiences at Louboutin and Balmain, I had the opportunity to handle important responsibilities: managing the prototyping factories, working with assistants and various external partners. So this was nothing new for my business.

However, this time it's my money that's at stake.

Question C as Counsel…

-We hope that we won't keep this question for very long, but can you tell us how the current situation induce specific complications, risks maybe also opportunities? In these times of crisis, how do you face the difficulties? What steps have you taken to stay on track?

For me, everything has changed and at the same time nothing has changed. The first big change is my travels. I can no longer travel to Colombia or Italy where I work with a great cashmere actor. For this client, prototyping is impossible. Besides, the tanneries are closed, so the sketches remain sketches. But we have adapted, we make a lot of Skype appointments, we get ahead for the next collections... We move forward like that until the factories reopen. 

Concerning my brand, I decided to open a shopify site to sell my handbags. So, to feed this website, my team is working on the creation of content. We create videos and content for instagram to boost the website. 

Finally, I take the time to create trend books, it's an opportunity that I've been able to explore thanks to this crisis. Otherwise I don't have time to write trend books.

Let's go straight to Question N -That's the Network question. Do you network for your projects? What about the IFM Alumni community?  What do these networks bring you and what do you recommend ?

First of all, the network of my IFM program: we have our own WhatsApps group, we exchange a lot. 

Then, you should know that at the end of my entrepreneurial career at the IFM, I travelled a lot and therefore, very often, at the time of the round tables or IFM Alumni meetings, I was not in France. 

Today, having a community is essential for me and since I'm going to stay in Paris for a while, I intend to take advantage of it to participate in events, even if they are Zoom videos ......... from home!  

Also, my network at the Hyeres Festival is very important. Moreover, this week, the Festival is on instagram @villadenoailles, go ahead there are many LIVE events planned. 

Finally, I'm soliciting several other networks, notably the network of factory owners in Italy, or that of my previous schools. All these friendships mean a lot to me.

Question X - Our second-to-last question ... Could you tell us about a young company, or an entrepreneur you admire today? (no, it's not necessarily an alumni...but it's good too) 

I'm thinking of Débora Enkaoua, she's a classmate at IFM and a jewelry designer. I think she has a real universe, a beautiful perceptive. Her jewellery is timeless. I have great admiration for her.

Question Y 

- Almost there .... our penultimate question ... what is the last thing you expected to do or learn in your entrepreneurial life?

Accounting, expense reports... It's an administrative task, I was expecting it, but I didn't think I'd spend so much time on it...

In the end, I haven't had any major surprises yet. I have a long career in business, there are a lot of tasks that I had learned before I opened my company. 

If I know the job very well and it doesn't really hold any secrets for me anymore, I am open to the unexpected and that's probably what will happen in the next few weeks.

Question Z -That's the very last one, if you could change anything currently out of your scope to help your business grow what would you want to change?

I'd like to see everyone walking the streets of Paris soon ... And of course with my Chloris flower handbags, «we have to spread wonders ! ». It could be very beautiful!

Studio Cancellier link  : https://www.studiocancellier.com

Cancellier Paris  link: https://cancellierparis.com

Raptus and Rose link: https://shop.raptusandrose.com/it/