Tiffany & Co. Grove pop-up to host four of the sports world’s championship trophies

For two days in October, four of the sports world’s most prestigious trophies will be on display together at the Grove shopping center in Los Angeles as part of an effort to highlight Tiffany & Co.’s expanded men’s jewelry and accessories offerings.

On Oct. 12 and 13, sports fans will be able to get up close and personal with the NFL’s Vince Lombardi trophy, the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Championship trophy, the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup trophy and the USTA’s Men’s U.S. Open Trophy in a 200-square-foot Tiffany Men’s pop-up shop in the park space in the middle of the Fairfax district retail development. After that, the trophies will take up residence there, one at a time, until the temporary space pops down the day before Thanksgiving.

That might sound like a brazen effort to appeal to sports-minded men, but it also draws attention to the fact that all four of the trophies were made by the 182-year-old luxury brand (the ones on display are from Tiffany’s archive), a legacy that directly inspired some of the new men’s wares.

Although Tiffany has long offered a narrow selection of classic men’s items (think rings, money clips, cufflinks and the like), the new Tiffany Men’s assortment adds roughly 100 new pieces — including rugged chain-link ID bracelets and rings that resemble hex nuts, as well as barware, chess sets and Tiffany blue billiard balls.

The company’s holloware workshop in Rhode Island, where the aforementioned sports trophies are made by hand, influenced the look and feel of the uncluttered, utilitarian Tiffany 1837 Makers collection; gleaming dog-tag-like ID pendants ($1,800), cufflinks ($375) and bracelet hardware ($750) stamped with “T & CO MAKERS” or “AG925” (the latter a nod to Tiffany’s role in setting the U.S. standard for sterling silver at 925 parts of silver per 1,000).

The standout of the selection — and the piece that’s the most-direct nod to the sports-championship vibe — is a trophy ring ($1,200) that looks like the love child of a high-school class ring and a Super Bowl championship ring.

Tiffany & Co.’s artistic director, Reed Krakoff, said there were two very simple reasons for the expanded men’s collections, which officially hit retail Oct. 1. “One, I think there’s [currently] enormous interest from the male consumer for jewelry, accessories [and] travel [items], so there’s a big opportunity,” he said. “And two, Tiffany really resonates with men. Half the consumers that come in our store are male. So those things combined made it feel like the right moment.”

A second range of items in the new Tiffany Men’s collection, called Diamond Point, uses a graphic pattern inspired by the culet (the tiny point at the tip of a cut diamond) to add a waffle-like texture to cufflinks ($375), pendants ($300), tie bars ($250) and barware.

Tiffany Men’s also includes an assortment of items from Everyday Objects — an elevated take on the trinkets that fill people’s daily lives, including sterling silver and walnut yo-yos and a sterling silver first aid box, as well as those above-mentioned billiard balls, which are priced at $1,500.

But why host the high-profile trophy-palooza — and debut the new men’s collection — in a pop-up space at the Grove instead of at an existing Tiffany boutique such as the one at the foot of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills?

“We wanted to get the men’s collection in front of a new customer,” Krakoff said. “And we had a Tiffany pop-up there last year, and it was really well received. It’s also fun to do something for a short period [of time] in a small space. You can be really creative and create something that only lives for a month or so but creates a lot of excitement, generates a lot of interest and exposes the brand in a new way.”

As part of that same effort to expand the reach and exposure of the brand, Tiffany has partnered with Dover Street Market Los Angeles to debut exclusive, limited-release pieces from the Tiffany 1837 Makers collection (sterling silver items with a worn, weathered texture and a hand-engraved L.A. signet ring) for an Oct. 10-17 preview before the collection launches at all Dover Street Markets in November.