Tania McNab – Founder
Tania’s career history explains much about the original launch of La Maison Couture in 2008 and indeed where it is today, in 2015.
After graduating with a degree in Fashion & Textiles, Tania worked for over twenty years at the very heart of the luxury retail industry, as both a Fashion Buyer and Merchandise Director.
She cut her teeth at the legendary Browns, working alongside fashion Doyenne Joan Burstein. Tania became the Buyer for Browns’ exclusive Romeo Gigli boutiques – a very high profile brand in the early 90’s and exclusively available in the UK at Browns. During which time she created and designed Browns’ very first own label collection.
In 1993 Tania moved with her husband to Hong Kong (where she had spent part of her childhood), to work for renowned style guru Joyce Ma, buying designer collections, jewellery and accessories for Joyce’s luxury brand boutiques throughout Asia, including Hong Kong, China and Manila.
Five years later and back in the UK, Tania held increasingly prestigious buying roles at world leading department stores, including Harrods – where she spearheaded the creation and launch of the Designer Jewellery rooms before widening her remit to include homewares; and Harvey Nichols where, as Merchandise Consultant, she sourced and bought luxury brands for the Harvey Nichols Riyadh store.
in 2008 Tania had a vision… It was a vision which she was uniquely qualified for, through past experience, through her innate individual skills and talent and through her business acumen, which recognised the lack of available luxury brands and products online, as a potential opportunity.
Tania launched La Maison Couture, a pioneering website, in the style of a 17th century chateau, providing a portal, linking visitors to her unique edit of luxury brands; jewellery, fashion accessories, gifts and beautiful objets for the home… at a time when the very idea of luxury retail online was unthinkable to most.
2008 may not feel like a lifetime ago but in terms of internet technology, shopping habits and the collective view of luxury, the world has since utterly changed.
And Tania’s personal world has changed too. She moved with her husband and young family to the depths of East Sussex, buying a large country house much in need of renovation. Whilst running La Maison Couture she was also Project Managing an extensive, sympathetic restoration of her historic home and gardens as well as caring for her two children and husband. Juggling all three, most successfully…
By 2015, the inevitable growth of luxury retail online, changing what ‘luxury’ is to the discrning connoisseur along with the success of La Maison Couture’s Jewellery Room, could not be ignored. Recognising her individual eye for jewellery and innate curatorial skills in the area and having listened to her customers’ views and wishes, Tania has reinvented La Maison Couture. It’s customary black backdrop has been changed to a crisp, modern white and the boutique has been redefined, its primary focus now being contemporary fine jewellery.
With her passion for sourcing beautiful product undiminished and her pioneering energy and vision as strong as ever – Tania embarks on a new chapter – white is the new black … and jewellery is the new luxury – rare, precious and individual…
by GILL CHRISTOPHERS
