Amina El-Demirdash wearing her great-grandmother Queen Nazli’s Van Cleef & Arpel’s necklace and Elie Saab. Photographed by Julian Torres for Vogue Arabia, September 2018.
Joining the plethora of recent initiatives aimed at nurturing homegrown talent, is L’Ecole Van Cleef & Arpels, which is returning to Dubai for its second edition following a successful 2017 debut. The educational platform will be offering local creatives a two-week-long program of courses, exhibitions, and talks, inviting the region’s gemstone enthusiasts and budding jewelers to immerse themselves in the art of bijouterie.
The Paris-based school of jewelry arts will temporarily set up camp from March 28 to April 13 at In5, Hai d3. Those who decide to partake in this year’s program can look forward to four brand-new exhibitions that spotlight jewelry from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the world of pearl merchants from the Gulf. History buffs will certainly revel in “Precious Art Deco Objects”, an exhibition that will offer an exclusive look at the decades-old precious boxes from the remarkable collection amassed by the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan for his wife, the Princess Catherine Aleya Aga Khan.
The extensive program will also offer 14 hands-on courses (with all proceeds going towards Dubai Cares) for novices and experts alike taught by renowned teachers, interactive workshops for children, a lineup of thought-provoking talks with leading experts, and screenings of classic jewelry-inspired films in collaboration with independant arthouse, Cinema Akil.
This won’t be the school’s first trip abroad, let alone to the Middle East. In the past couple of years, L’École Van Cleef & Arpels, which was founded in 2012, touched down in Hong Kong for the third time, traveled to New York, and made its Dubai debut in 2017.
Marie Vallanet-Delhom, President of L’École Van Cleef & Arpels states, “We are very excited to re-affirm our mission to share culture and to foster the growth of education through transporting the experience of the school’s Paris Place Vendôme classrooms to In5 at Hai d3 in Dubai Design District for the second year.”
Enrollment for the courses will open from February 2019. For more information, visit me.lecolevancleefarpels.com.
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