Who ?
Philia is above all a family story , a love story, an adventure novel, a hymn to freedom, to memory, to memories, to transmission. Philia is the story of Céline and Daniel, a couple united by the sacred bond of marriage but above all by their history and their common origins rooted in South East Asia.
Daniel's story
Daniel, was born in Phnom Penh in Cambodia, which he left with his parents, at 2 weeks of existence, to flee the Khmer Rouge regime and their bloodthirsty leader Pol Pot, sadly famous for their mass executions of opponents, city dwellers and intellectuals who will kill the lives of more than a third of Cambodians in less than 4 years.
The exodus...
After 2 months of exodus, Daniel and his family take refuge in Vietnam, which they also end up leaving to go into exile, when he is still only 6 years old, in the host country, France, country of Absolute democracy, cradle of Enlightenment and Human Rights, of which his father had always dreamed. Like all these Boat People fleeing Khmer Rouge terror and poverty, this everyday hero, with the instinct of survival and freedom pegged to the body, finds refuge in the Paris region where he modestly settles his entire tribe.
A new life...
A new life in the country of tolerance and meritocracy can finally start in peace. Daniel, a reserved and serious child, achieves an exemplary school career and, as a pure product of the Republican school, he manages to extricate himself from his modest condition to reach the highest rank of one of the largest industrial groups. For 20 years, he rose through the ranks by occupying strategic financial positions in France and China.
Celine's story
Céline was born in Savannakhet in Laos. In the grip of a very strong political instability, the country is then also the target of the American bombardments and it is in this context that Céline and her parents leave their mother country to join France too and settle in Burgundy in the 1 year old.
A creative child
Céline is a creative child for whom school is a place of play more than a place of learning. At the age of 19, she met Daniel: it was obvious! It is the meeting of two soul mates, the resonance of their common stories and roots. With the arrival of their children, Céline and Daniel become more and more part of this dual culture, at the confluence of Asia and the West. They measure at the same time how much their personal and collective history, their cultural roots are the cement of their values, that they must not be forgotten.
Back to origins
After a family trip to their lands of origin in 2021, this duty of memory and transmission, this need to spread love and universal freedom, to engrave memories, imposes itself on them as a necessity, as an urgency to leave a trace behind. Daniel decides to leave his very comfortable position in order to launch with Céline, in homage to their parents, in memory of their ancestors, but also for their children and future generations, their jewelry brand, Philia is created.