Halley earrings, necklace and ring. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.
Van Cleef & Arpels is the quintessential arbiter of taste, elegance, culture, expressing its distinctive creative spirit through its high jewelry creations, ever since its first boutique opening at Place Vendôme in 1906.
Planétarium high jewelry watch. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.
“Inspired by nature, dance, couture, various civilizations and also imaginary worlds, the maison always imbues its creations with poetry, imparting them with this special aesthetic,” explains Nicolas Bos, CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels. “Our designers’ imaginations are fueled by motifs from our heritage that they reinterpret through their modern lens according to the new technical means at our disposal. This perpetuation of the inspirations from our beginnings, combined with a contemporary vision, has forged the maison’s DNA. That is what makes our creations recognizable at first sight.”
Product card of a Van Cleef & Arpels brooch, 1935. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.
The latest high jewelry collection is an exquisite re-exploration of one of the maison’s historic sources of inspiration: astronomy. “Sous les étoiles, literally ‘under the stars,’ offers a striking vision of the universe, at the crossroads of reality and abstraction,” Bos offers. The celestial vault and its starry sky have nurtured and inspired numerous poets and writers over the centuries and now offer up its gifts for a heavenly dream of 150 unique high jewelry creations. Planets, stars, comets, and nebulas are brought to dazzling life with exceptional gems and craftsmanship and an abundance of dynamic and geometric designs.
Hélios transformable long necklace, saturne clip. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.
Named after the Greek sun god Helios, the Helios transformable long necklace is an elegant composition of diamonds and cultured pearls, with a resplendent Sri Lankan yellow sapphire of more than 50ct. A tassel of white cultured pearls and diamonds is suspended from this central motif, culminating in a 1.11ct diamond at the nape of the neck. The Halley transformable necklace and ring takes as its inspiration Halley’s Comet; its brilliant vivacity evoked by a pear-shaped Fancy Vivid Yellow diamond of 11.29ct. The Ison cuff bracelet is also inspired by the eponymous comet that disintegrated into a radiant cloud after passing too close to the sun.
Van Cleef & Arpels pendentif lune, 1969. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.
This solar denouement is given a poetic reinterpretation with diamonds and Mystery Set rubies; a pairing characteristic of Van Cleef & Arpels. One of the collection’s figurative pieces is the Saturn clip, which depicts the planet’s distinctive rings in diamonds, the sparkling strands gravitating around a half-sphere in hammered yellow gold, giving the appearance of it floating in space.
Cépheide earrings and necklace. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.
The Céphéide transformable necklace takes its name from the giant stars that burn brighter than the sun, its eternal radiance reflected in a bold gradation of shades of mauve sapphire, tsavorite garnet, diamond motifs, and chalcedony cabochons. With colors and a design reminiscent of spiral galaxies, the Galaxie secrète watch harbors a secret dial at its heart. The hours emerge from a hypnotic spiral, where rows of diamonds alternate with blue, pink, and mauve sapphires, glittering like stars.
The Iwamoto ring takes shape. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.
The Iwamoto ring unfurls across two fingers, its blue Sri Lankan sapphire of 26.41ct recalling the comet Iwamoto’s blue-green glow, while the Ciel de minuit necklace pays homage to the Milky Way with lapis lazuli motifs individually sculpted by hand. The Boucle cosmique necklace echoes the Thor’s Helmet nebula in a majestic feat of craftsmanship, with specially cut sapphires inserted on a ring-shaped mount, like a velvet ribbon encircling a spray of diamonds. A famous pair of stars is depicted in the Trésor astral necklace: Alcor and Mizar in the constellation of the Great Bear are represented by two sapphires, juxtaposed in a bold tête-à-tête.
Fée cassiopée clip. Photo: Van Cleef & Arpels.
It took more than a year to match the gems – a 31.17ct sapphire from Sri Lanka and another 22.82ct one from Burma – which display a harmony of quality and color. Nuée d’émeraudes is a luminous necklace inspired by the 41P comet, whose blue-green glow can sometimes be seen at night. 96 emeralds, as well as sapphires and diamonds create an effect of intense radiance. Of course, Van Cleef & Arpels’ feminine figures also feature in the Sous les étoiles collection, with dazzling and stellar femininity.
Nuée d’émeraudes necklace. Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.
“Movement is an important feature in Van Cleef & Arpels collections in general but for Sous les étoiles we wanted to accentuate that aspect to represent cosmic phenomena and moving celestial bodies,” Bos shares. “This collection was dreamed up three years ago but it takes a new dimension today. It evokes the Elsewhere and offers a possibility to escape from reality and dive into a poetic cosmos – as the subtitle une rêverie céleste (heavenly dreams) suggests.”
Ciel de minuit necklace. Photo: Van Cleef & Arpels.
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