[3][failed verification] After his national service at the age of 28, he set up his own business in 1936, opening a shop in his name in the eighth arrondissement of Paris, at number 6 Rue Royale.
He chose to have printed in capital letters on his first business card: “Fred Samuel, the modern, jeweller, creator”; in French: Le Moderne-Joaillier-Créateur.
At Marchélepot, one of the villages being defended in an attempt to secure the route to Paris, his regiment finally succumbed, after withstanding 48-hours of heavy aerial and artillery bombardment, followed by hand-to-hand combat once their ammunition ran out.
In his autobiography, Memoirs of a jeweller (Mémoires d'un joaillier),[9] Samuel explains why he kept only the first name Fred on his shop window: "[P]erhaps as a challenge, perhaps so as not to forget those monstrous hours, perhaps also to maintain the benefit of a healthy anonymity".
They also decided to broaden the House's product range by opening the "6 Royale" in the 8th arrondissement of Paris in 1975, a boutique dedicated to the sale of leather goods and luxury accessories.
In 1987, at the occasion of the opening of a Fred space in the heart of Galeries Lafayette, the House presented the public with a collection of 50 diamonds of differing sizes and colours.
Throughout these years, the company's reputation attracted French celebrities such as Maurice Chevalier, Sacha Guitry, as well as Catherine Deneuve, Régine, Alain Delon, Yves Montand and Johnny Halliday.
[15] In the 1990s, Fred became one of the world's top ten jewellers, with 12 shops from Paris to Beverly Hills, from New York and Houston, to Monte Carlo, Cannes and Geneva.
[24] In 2017, at the Viva Technology conference, the company unveiled "Atelier Fred", a digital tool that allows the "Force 10" bracelet to be customised by choosing colours, materials and precious stones.
[31] In addition to Paris, where Fred Joaillier has several showrooms, notably on Rue de la Paix, the company also has some fifty boutiques: in France (Cannes, Lyon and Nice), in Monaco, in England (London), in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Chengdu), in Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka), in South Korea (Seoul, Daegu, Busan), as well as in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Australia.
Fred is represented in several retail outlets in France as well as in Andorra, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, China, Republic of the Congo-(Brazzaville), Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Hong Kong, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Portugal, Reunion Island, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia and the United States of America.