MILAN – The Aura Blockchain Consortium has named Marcel Härtlein its new chief executive officer and general secretary.
Härtlein was previously group head of digital & IT at storied French luxury glassmaker Lalique. He succeeds Romain Carrere, who was named to that role in 2023.
“It is an honor to enter in Aura at such a crucial moment,” Härtlein said. Through the experience with Lalique as part of the consortium, he said he “could appreciate its impact in redefining the concepts of trust and artisanship in the digital era.”
He enthused about “building on this legacy, accompanying the expansion of Aura and strengthening its role as a collaborative standard of excellence for the main luxury brands at a global level.”
The nonprofit Aura was established in 2021 by founding members LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Prada Group, Compagnie Financière Richemont‘s Cartier brand, Diesel parent OTB Group and Mercedes-Benz Group.
“We are happy to welcome Marcel in Aura,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, chief marketing officer and head of corporate social responsibility of Prada Group and chairman of Aura. “His managerial experience in the luxury sector and his deep knowledge of the Aura ecosystem make him the ideal person to lead this new phase of growth and collaboration. Marcel embodies the founding values of the Consortium: innovation, integrity and research of excellence.”
Härtlein is tasked with the expansion of Aura’s global membership, the acceleration of the blockchain and the introduction of new services and solutions with added value.
Among the goals is to continue to protect the integrity of the brands, increasing transparency along the chain and strengthening the bonds between brand, partner and end clients.
The consortium today includes more than 50 luxury brands and has registered more than 80 million products on its blockchain.
Aura promotes the use of a single blockchain solution open to all luxury brands worldwide to help consumers trace the provenance and authenticity of luxury goods. It offers a range of solutions to more than 25 member brands, including NFTs and a Multi-Token Minter.
The blockchain can include both upstream, meaning production and sourcing info, and downstream, meaning loyalty programs or insurance tied to an object, as well as repair and resale.
The tech standards that Aura’s blockchain has been creating are establishing a framework and technological standard that will help brands adapt to the needs of digital product passports.
The blockchain’s private and closed network also support the privacy concerns of luxury brands, as its technology can be used across brands but is not proprietary to any one of them. Its technology helps enable member brands to be aligned with the sustainability-focused requirements of the European Union.
In 2022, Aura joined the Sustainable Markets Initiative Fashion Task Force.
The SMI coalition, aimed at accelerating the transition toward a more sustainable future in the global fashion, textile and apparel sector, was launched by the-then Prince of Wales, now King Charles, during the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in 2020, and its Fashion Task Force is chaired by former Yoox Net-a-porter chairman and CEO Federico Marchetti.
