Luxury jewellery brand Tiffany & Co has been mocked online over its exorbitantly priced new home collection, titled Everyday Objects, which includes a $1,000 sterling silver tin can.
The collection, which the jeweller claims “transforms utilitarian items into handcrafted works of art”, boasts items such as a $9,000 sterling silver ball of yarn, a $425 walnut and silver protractor, a $1,500 set of walnut and silver “building blocks” – which look very similar to Lego – and a $300 yo-yo.
Tiffany’s chief artistic officer, Reed Krakoff, said of Everyday Objects: “What makes the collection unique is that it incorporates the best quality, craftsmanship and design with a level of functionality that allows you to use these things every day”.
But Twitter users were less than impressed, with the “tin” can in particular prompting a particularly virulent response.
Tiffany is selling a can for $1,000.
— Jennifer Wright (@JenAshleyWright) November 7, 2017
In other news, I now understand why people stormed the Bastille.https://t.co/Gq3pNxjySJ
"We need something for the person who has everything"
— Chelsea Kiene (@chelseakiene) November 7, 2017
"A tin can, but made of sterling silver & vermeil"
"Brilliant"https://t.co/lo1pgadeD8
When panhandling before the big riot, don't be caught without this stunning $1,000 tin can from Tiffany's pic.twitter.com/Mgw5IEup2H
— The Safest Space (@TheSafestSpace) November 5, 2017
Me: Late stage capitalism has peaked.@TiffanyAndCo: Hold my $1000 tin can. pic.twitter.com/GxSYHpQcgd
— Ava Ex Machina (@silicondomme) November 7, 2017
And while some took it as a sign of a broken economic system, others saw the collection as a portent of good times to come.
If this doesn't prove beyond all doubt that the global financial crisis is over than I don't know what will. #Tiffany&Co #TinCan pic.twitter.com/zCYn5MExbj
— Barry Carmody (@barros_maximus) November 7, 2017
The attention-grabbing collection, which has been released just in time for Christmas, may turn out to be a cunning PR move for the brand, which has been experiencing flagging sales.
In 2016, the company recorded an annual drop in worldwide sales and earnings and made headlines when it claimed protests against Trump’s election win were discouraging people from shopping at its iconic Fifth Avenue flagship store in New York.
The brand also made the news at this year’s US presidential inauguration when the first lady-elect, Melania Trump, brought a gift encased in a Tiffany & Co box for the Obamas, in a move that was out of step with tradition.
In its 2016 annual report, Tiffany & Co said it was pursuing strategies that it expected would drive sales, earnings growth and long-term shareholder value, including increasing the rate of its new product introductions and innovations.
