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Maximilien de Hoop Cartier (born November 18, 1967) is a philanthropist, entrepreneur, industrialist, investor, and singer.

Cartier, also known as Max Cartier, is an art collector and singer (crooner) as well. Cartier is most known for leading an expansion of South American wines and premium beers into North America and Europe.

Early life
Cartier was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His mother, Sarah Cartier, is a direct descendant of the Cartier family of jewellers in France. His father, Daniel de Hoop, is a former member of the Royal Dutch House of Orange in the Netherlands. As a child, Cartier studied in an English boarding school, Belgrano Day School, in Buenos Aires until the age of 18. He then moved alone to Europe, where he studied hotel management and oenology in Switzerland. Cartier received a Master's degree in economics from University of Lausanne. He also graduated as a teacher with a Swiss Federal Diploma for Business and taught business to students from the University of Lausanne for several years.

After graduating from the Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland in 1990, Cartier moved to London for two years. He worked in a small hotel in Paddington as an assistant to the general manager.

Switzerland
On his return to Switzerland in 1992, Cartier focused all his efforts on the production and marketing strategy of wines, cognac, champagnes and finally, premium beers. He spent 15 years in Geneva and Lausanne, where he founded his first company. He began producing wines, champagne and cognac in the Bordeaux region of France. He registered his own brands worldwide and started using his registered Patagonia Brand to bring wines and premium beers from Argentina and Chile into Europe, including Quilmes, the market share leader in Argentina (76.4%).

Argentina
Cartier learned that lawmakers in Argentina were considering anti-monopoly legislation. He flew to Buenos Aires to assess the situation first hand. Once there, he found that the National Government was requiring some industries to scale down production in order to minimize their market share.

After a negotiation that lasted almost a year, Cartier managed to take control over the industrial Brewery Cerveceria San Carlos (formerly Bieckert). The brewery covered 11,000 square meters of land. Cerveceria San Carlos had produced almost 40% of the total Argentine beer consumed during the 1980s. Cartier hired technicians from companies such as InBev Group and Heineken, and he soon implemented quality controls and production protocols. He invested heavily in new machinery and technology, expanding the total production capacity of the brewery to 50 million bottles per year.

Cartier's brewery produced beers under two major brands: Patagonia and Primitiva. These brands were regionally successful, and Cartier began exporting to countries such as Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Puerto Rico, United States, Canada, Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Luciano Benetton suggested expanding Cartier's production and export business to include premium bottled water under the Patagonia label. Cartier accepted the proposal. He travelled throughout the Patagonia region, both on the Argentine side as well as on the Chilean side, visiting every potential source of pure spring water. After a year of searching, he discovered a spring in Patagonia. Located in Andean glacial ice, the water is completely uncontaminated. The high mountain water source is one of the last millennial reservoirs away from pollution and untouched by human activity.

Cartier flew to Treviso, Italy, to present his findings to Benetton. They quickly started working on the logistics of placing a bottling plant directly at the water's source. Three years passed before Cartier had obtained all the necessary permits and inspections for construction and operation of the plant. Today, the Patagonian bottling plant has a total annual production capacity of 120 million bottles.

After being the original owner of the Patagonia brand for the past 28 years, in 2020 Cartier finally decided to sell all his interests of Patagonia to Patagonia Inc. United States for an undisclosed amount.

Kosovo
In 1998, war broke out in the former Yugoslav republic of Kosovo, and Cartier lost track of his personal friend Mr. Ramush Haradinaj. He later discovered that Haradinaj had returned to his home country and taken command of an army of 10,000 rebel fighters.

Cartier traveled to the region to see if he could be of any assistance. Haradinaj explained that food and drinking water were in short supply. Eager to be of help, Cartier travelled to nearby Greece, where he rented a warehouse in the harbor city of Thessaloniki. From there, he sent truckloads of food, water and basic supplies.

In recognition of his personal sacrifice, Cartier received a pure, solid gold necklace in the shape of a double-headed eagle and with the initials UCK (symbol and initials of the Kosovo Liberation Army).

Philantrophy
While in Switzerland, Cartier became involved in the management of his family's philanthropic organization, the “Fondation de Hoop Cartier.” The foundation is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its mission is to carry on the philanthropic activities of Cartier's grandfather, Monsieur Émile B. Cartier. These activities include the promotion of education, arts, culture and health care.

The foundation supports high impact and sustainable initiatives in low income countries, and the main objectives of these actions are fostering women's economic and social development and encouraging communities to manage natural resources responsibly.

Personal life
Cartier is well known for being adventurous, and he has a passion for world travel and for sports. He is a professional skier and a licensed pilot. Cartier is fluent in French, Spanish, English, Italian and Portuguese.

Sabbatical
After the war in Kosovo ended, Cartier returned to his business in Switzerland. However, the experience left him unable to concentrate on daily business. Furthermore, his father Daniel de Hoop had been fighting advanced cancer for two years, and his days were numbered. Cartier boarded a flight to be next to his father and accompany him through his last days.

When his father died, Cartier left his business interests in the hands of his trustees, partners and close colleagues. He embarked on a year-long sabbatical, during which he traveled around the world, spending time in Venezuela, Brazil, the United States, Thailand, England, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Peru, Russia, Greece, Argentina and Uruguay.

Singer
When the Coronavirus pandemic started Cartier found himself stranded in Paris and the situation forced him to look deep inside himself.

That was the occasion to reconnect with an old hobby of his: music. Thanks to a Brazilian girlfriend he often telephoned to and who kept saying to Cartier that his voice was something he shouldn't keep to himself, he decided to start singing lessons.

As his musical advancement progressed, Cartier was noticed by personalities from the musical world, such as Tenor of the Opera de Paris and then an elite vocal coach of many international stars at AICOM «Académie Internationale de Comédie Musicale». Today Max Cartier's music can be found on all major music platforms.