TASAKI Names Former Chanel Japan Head Richard Collasse as Global CEO

The man who turned Chanel Japan into the French house's single largest market in the world is now responsible for taking a Kobe pearl jeweler global. Tasaki named Richard Collasse its new president and global chief executive officer on March 16, a sweeping leadership overhaul the company said was designed to accelerate its international expansion.

Collasse became president of Chanel Japan in 1995 and spent more than two decades building what analysts describe as a case study in selective luxury distribution. Under his stewardship, Chanel Japan grew to operate 34 fashion boutiques, a total that exceeded every other country in the Chanel network including France, along with 13 high jewelry boutiques, also a global record. Cosmetic distribution extended to 200 premier department stores. The numbers are striking not for their scale alone but for their discipline: that footprint was built without sacrificing the brand selectivity that defines high-end positioning.

Collasse also currently serves as an outside director of Aeon Co., Ltd. and has previously held the role of head of Chanel's travel retail business and chairman of the board.

Tasaki's outgoing chief executive, who sources identify as Tajima and who has led the company since 2009, moves into a newly established chairman role at Tasaki Holdings. In a statement, Tajima said: "Our vision is to cultivate Tasaki into a brand that is recognised and respected across the world's major markets as a luxury jeweller originating from Japan. As I assume the role of chairman of Tasaki Holdings, it gives me great pleasure to pass the torch of president and CEO to Richard Collasse, someone I have long known in the luxury industry and who has also been a worthy competitor. I am confident that Collasse's extensive experience and global network in the luxury sector will lead Tasaki toward the realisation of this vision."

The restructuring introduced a two-axis management model. Collasse leads what the company describes as the global axis, overseeing brand strategy and international growth. Kentaro Odagiri takes charge of the Japan axis as representative director and CEO for the domestic market, with a mandate to deepen customer experience and strengthen the brand's foundation at home, effective April 1. Matthew Bai will serve as Asia CEO, overseeing business strategy and organizational management across the region including China.

The ambition extends further west. With a store already on Bond Street in London, Tasaki has signaled that European expansion is a priority alongside deeper penetration in Asia.

Tasaki is a rare vertically integrated operator in fine jewelry, controlling every stage of the process in-house: pearl cultivation and selection, processing, and design. The company, which developed Mabe pearl cultivation techniques in 1970, has built its design identity around that technical mastery, most visibly in its "balance" collection, which places tension-set pearls and gemstones in architectural settings that read more like sculpture than adornment.

Whether Collasse applies the same philosophy of restraint at Tasaki that he practiced at Chanel Japan will define how the brand's next chapter is written. The temptation to use new leadership as a license for rapid distribution expansion is real; the record Collasse made at Chanel suggests he has historically resisted it.