Valmont Group

History

Valmont has its roots back to the traditional Swiss medicine, used to formulate anti-aging skincare products. Valmont was initially a clinic for skin regenerating treatments, In 1985 Valmont beauty products were launched as a separate entity to focus on cosmetic cellular findings. Valmont products claim to provide skin hydration. Over the next 10 years, the company expanded the range and continued to sell their products majorly in Switzerland. In 1996, Didier Guillon acquired the company and became the sole owner. Guillon worked on expanding the Swiss brand globally and launched a luxury cosmetic range Elixir des Glaciers. As of early 21st century, Valmont sold its products in department stores across the world through a chain of freestanding retail outlets. The company has participated in art projects with several artists and foundations.

In 2014, the company entered Saks Fifth Avenue in the United States, which is also its first international account.

Italian Art Perfumery

In 2015, the Valmont Group bought Italian niche perfume brand Il Profvmo, created by Silvana Casoli.

Didier Guillon

Didier Guillon is a French Swiss entrepreneur, curator, philanthropist and art collector. He is the owner, chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Art Director of the Valmont Group since 1990.

Early life and career

Didier Guillon was born on 28 March 1953 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He is the descendant of the famous international art collector Charles Sedelmeyer. He is also the great-great son of French sculptor and art historian Stanislas Lami. and descendant of the notorious sculptor and Egyptologist Alphonse Lami. His father, Claude Guillon, was the co-founder of Laboratoires Expanscience. Didier Guillon studied at the Panthéon Assas University in Paris where he graduated with a Business Law degree in 1979.

At his early career, Didier Guillon was a lawyer, specialised in Business Law.

L'Elixir des Glaciers

In 2001, Didier Guillon created l'Elixir des Glaciers, a brand featuring Switzerland's finest ingredients and promoting a certain way of Swiss luxury.

Art collector

Perpetuating a family tradition, Didier Guillon is a noted art collector and a creation passionate. His collection includes pieces of Frédéric Amat, Jordi Artigas, Isao Artigas, Yves Bélorgey, Jane le Besque, Leonardo Cimolin, Quentin Garel, Judi Harvest, Yves Lévêque, Tom Powell, Silvano Rubino.

The Valmont Fondation

In 2015, Didier Guillon creates the Valmont Fondation, an institution dedicated to contemporary art and creation, to exhibits his collection and to promote and patron young artists. The foundation gathers more than 200 international art pieces.

As a non-traditional curator, and a cultural agitator, Didier Guillon often holds exhibitions where he invites artists to think about a thematic and explore new fields of creation.

Among the art projects promoted by the Valmont Fondation, the most notable is the exhibition "The Dialogue of Fire. Ceramic and Glass Masters from Barcelona to Venice", which was an official collateral event at the 56th Biennale di Venezia in 2015. The exhibition, curated by Didier Guillon himself along with Luca Berta and Francesca Giubilei, featured contemporary ceramic and glass artworks fabricated at the Artigas Foundation in Gallifa (Catalonia) and on Murano (Italy). The sixteenth-century Palazzo Tiepolo Passi housed, for seven months, a collection of ceramic plates by acclaimed masters such as Antoni Tapies and Eduardo Chillida and site-specific installations created by Silvano Rubino, Judi Harvest, Joan Gardy Artigas, and Isao Llorens Ishikawa. A new project to be presented in Venice in 2017 is now in progress. Didier Guillon has developed a particular fascination for Murano glass and for the tradition of glassmaking in Venice. For this reason, he has produced glass artworks on his design in collaboration with Venetian glass masters, namely the Cage de Pluie, a minimalistic sculpture in the shape of a cube made of ultramarine glass bars. For IL PROFVMO, he has created several collections of Murano glass bottles in limited edition. He has worked constantly to support the glass manufacturers still based in Murano, and to promote internationally the potential of Murano glass in connection with art and beauty.

On 2016, Didier Guillon works on a new exhibition, El Cuor No se Vende, at the Historical Archives Museum of Hydra Greece, along with Dina Adamopoulou, the Director of the Museum. According to her: “Working with Didier Guillon on the “El Cuor No se Vende” exhibition has been a tremendous experience that I will remember fondly. A true patron of the arts, Didier Guillon gives selflessly of himself for the sake of culture and aesthetics. Our partnership began in the summer of 2013, with the “Plats d’Artistes” exhibition at the Museum of Hydra. Today, we are back together for “El Cuor No Se Vende.” We see this extraordinary exhibition as a cultural bridge between Greece and the international art scene thanks to a series of events organized to highlight this connection.”

Didier Guillon likes to think of new ways to approach, discuss and appreciate contemporary art. He has curated numerous exhibitions around the world, from Paris to New-York, including Hong-Kong, Tokyo and Greece.

Personal life

Didier Guillon has been married to Sophie Guillon (born Vann) since 1994. Sophie and Didier Guillon are partners in life and at work as Sophie has been running the Valmont Group with husband Didier Guillon since 2001, as a Chief Operating Officer. The couple has three children, Capucine, Maxence and Valentine.