Academy 06

Zoom Webinar

How to Build a Brand Identity and Why it Matters with Laurent Hainaut, Founder and CEO forceMAJEURE and Shant Madjarian, Founder and President of Juniper

About the experts:

Laurent Hainaut

Designer • Entrepreneur • Design and Branding Expert

French-born and New York–based, Laurent Hainaut is an industrial designer and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in branding, innovation, and global design strategy. He is the founder and President of forceMAJEURE Design, a leading creative agency known for shaping iconic brands in beauty, spirits, luxury, and lifestyle, with offices in New York, Paris, and Singapore.

Laurent began his career as a founding member of Raison Pure, and later expanded its global presence by launching Raison Pure International in New York. In 2024, he co-led the strategic integration of forceMAJEURE into the global design agency Lonsdale, reinforcing the agency’s position as a global branding powerhouse.

His creative leadership and strategic thinking have guided brand transformations for clients such as Unilever, Diageo, Moet Hennessy, Camapari, ICFF, and Juniper. Beyond client work, Laurent co-founded the Gallery R’Pure with Odile Hainaut and Sebastien Servaire to promote design culture,  and launched the RPNYC L’Orangerie Foundation to support design education.

A passionate advocate for purposeful design, Laurent is recognized for bridging brand vision with global market insight—helping brands grow with meaning, structure, and cultural resonance.

Shant Madjarian

Shant Madjarian launched Juniper in 2011, following a 13-year career in banking and finance. Entrepreneurial by nature and motivated by a growing movement towards experience design and local manufacturing, Madjarian set out to develop a collection of contemporary lighting that would together perform and inspire. Juniper designs, develops and manufactures its collection of innovative architectural lighting and accessories from its new factory in Southington, CT, where the studio collaborates with designers, architects, suppliers and buyers from across the globe.

Prior to launching Juniper, Madjarian held a Vice President position in the Credit Suisse Mergers & Acquisitions department, in which he consulted corporate clients on operating performance measurement and economic value creation. Madjarian’s career began as an economic researcher for the Bank Credit Analyst and later as an Equity Analyst at Deutsche Bank in New York.

Madjarian holds a Master’s degree in Economics and an Honors undergraduate degree in Economics and Finance both from McGill University. Additionally, he is an active member of Yale School of Architecture’s mentorship program.

Madjarian grew up in Montreal, Canada where he worked summers at his family’s custom lighting factory. It was also in Montreal where he first developed his passions for food, art and design.

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