Nestore's blog

Meeting with the founders of By Charlot

History of the By Charlot brand

By Charlot what is it?

"It's above all a human adventure with two Charles. The idea was to restore the nobility of indoor plants. With the shortest possible supply chains, therefore by sourcing plants directly from producers. By working with pots in the finest materials possible, such as brass and ceramic. And by placing vinyl labels on the assembled product that are fully customizable online and in-store, to offer a rather unique gift experience to our customers."

Why did you choose to get into plants?

"Above all, what we wanted to do with Charles was something around the art of giving. It was very important for us to be able to create a rather unique experience around the gift. Today, the most commonly given gift is the cut flower. And the plant we see most, whether in shops, in people's homes, or in offices, is the plant. So, we said to ourselves that there was something to be done. To bring together the world of plants on one side and the world of gifts on the other. "

Isn't it a bit pretentious to call your company By Charlot when your name is Charles?

"Quite honestly, it would have been a scandal not to do something about our first names, even though we're both called Charles. And we liked the first name, which is quite nice. It can be pejorative. But for us, it's quite nice. And above all, there's a service aspect, personal service and high-end to which we are quite attached for our brand."

Why did you launch your pop-up store?

"In fact, retail allows us not to reach a different clientele, but to reach the same clientele, but to reach them in a physical way and above all to be able to offer experiences with a little more flavor than we could do online. And I was talking about collaboration earlier. It will be the right way to be able to express ourselves in terms of scenography and to introduce unique capsule collections, etc...."

"And then we're still selling a living product. The plant is a product, a living product that's pleasant to see. There's also a whole notion of personalized advice. Our salespeople are, above all, the first advisors and ambassadors. And our customers love spending time in our stores. And in general, they spend 20 minutes choosing a plant and taking care of their gifts down to the smallest detail.

Any plans for the sequel to By Charlot?

We would like, in fact, it's a short-term project for By Charlot, to have a very local production circuit. And our dream, ultimately, is to see our plants growing where we sell them. And that's a project we have. We're looking at possibilities and we consider it absurd to transport plants when we can have local production. Why not in the city? Why not on the roof?

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