David Mardashev
Board Member, CHANEL Russia & CIS (2002–2017), Founder and Director of Chanel Academy.
Customer experience strategy, product positioning, service diagnostics, and training for luxury and premium brands
Luxury and premium brands do not need more noise. They need meaning clients can recognize.
I help luxury and premium brands turn customer experience into a measurable commercial asset — through strategy, service diagnostics, and training built around their specific clientele.
I also shape how new products are positioned and ritualized — from launch narrative to the way they're presented in the boutique — and sharpen the brand's tone of voice across touchpoints.
In 2002, I founded Chanel Academy in Moscow — a center of brand excellence that trained more than 12,000 people between 2002 and 2017 and became a Chanel global best practice.
Today, I work across the luxury sector — from beauty, fashion, and fine jewelry to adjacent sectors such as private banking, lifestyle, and real estate. The patterns repeat: sales advisors stop reciting features and start telling the brand's story in their own voice. Boutiques convert walk-ins into long-term clientele relationships. Regional teams stay aligned with the global vision. Launches become experiences clients remember.
My approach combines anthropology, brand heritage, floor-level retail reality, and a working fluency in digital and CRM — so the work holds beyond the workshop. I am also writing Anthropology of Luxury, a book on the philosophy and economics of the industry.
GIA Accredited Jewelry Professional · Honorary Member, Les Clefs d'Or · Consultant to Visa and Mastercard · Guest lecturer at leading business schools.
I speak English, French, and Russian.
About David Mardashev
David Mardashev is a luxury and premium brand advisor and the founder of InLuxe. From 2002 to 2017 he served as a Board Member of CHANEL Russia & CIS. In 2002 he founded Chanel Academy in Moscow, a centre of brand excellence that trained more than 12,000 people between 2002 and 2017 and became a Chanel global best practice. He advises luxury houses across beauty, fashion, and fine jewellery — and adjacent sectors such as private banking, lifestyle, and real estate — on customer-experience strategy, product positioning, service diagnostics, brand voice, and training. Mardashev is a GIA Accredited Jewelry Professional and an Honorary Member of Les Clefs d'Or, and has advised Visa and Mastercard. He lectures at leading business schools and is the author of the forthcoming book Anthropology of Luxury, on the philosophy and economics of the industry. He works in English, French, and Russian.