Lounging in an armchair sporting designer stubble, a black Tom Ford blazer and a white shirt unbuttoned just south of modesty, Kilian Hennessy could be starring in a campaign for his family's renowned cognac empire. Except he would never do that.

"I always knew I didn't want to work for the family," says the headstrong grandson of the co-founder of LVMH, the French luxury goods empire. "Carrying the Hennessey name was heavy enough, and if I went to work in the Hennessey company it would feel like I was there just because of my name and not because of what I could bring or my qualities."