Bejewelled Bounty: Treasure Island by Van Cleef & Arpels Part I
CEO Catherine Rénier introduces the Maison’s latest High Jewellery collection at its global unveiling in Miami on the shores of Biscayne Bay.
Two months into her new role as CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, Catherine Rénier kicks into high gear, hosting the global launch of the Treasure Island by Van Cleef & Arpels High Jewellery Collection. The collection was unveiled at the historic Vizcaya Museum & Gardens in Miami, enveloped by the balmy and tranquil atmosphere of Biscayne Bay with its picturesque mix of turquoise-clear waters, lush mangrove forests and diverse marine life. Rénier’s homecoming to the Maison where she spent most of her career in various postings and locations equips her to helm and lead Van Cleef & Arpels, Richemont Group’s prized heritage jewellery brand. In this face-to-face interview after the High Jewellery collection’s discovery session at the iconic beachfront Faena Hotel overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, she graciously embarks on a voyage across the landmark collection to share insights on its exciting narrative and significance.
L'OFFICIEL: The Maison typically launches its High Jewellery collection mid-year usually in Europe. How was this one different?
CATHERINE RENIER: We moved the launch to be in the perfect place at the perfect time to pay tribute to the collection in the best setting: close to the Caribbean in the tropics next to the ocean. We wanted to have this proximity with what we felt was somewhat the origin of the story.
LO: Tell us about the inspiration behind the Treasure Island by Van Cleef & Arpels High Jewellery collection.
CR: The collection is inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Treasure Island, published in 1883 and written originally for his stepson as a bedtime story to encourage a young child to dream about adventure and discovery. The Maison borrowed from this artistic expression to enrich our creations for this collection, paying tribute to Stevenson's story while injecting our expertise and heritage.
LO: Why was this book chosen?
CR: An important aspect in how we create our thematic High Jewellery collections is that we always stick to an artistic expression, be it ballet or a poetic style, with symbolisms that resonate with the public and that is cross-cultural and cross-generational, like Romeo and Juliet, for instance, which is about love, a symbol that needs no introduction. Here we have a sense of adventure from our childhood memories about the pirate universe created and described by Stevenson’s book with very strong symbols that still resonate in our imagination: pirates with the eye patch and a treasure chest full of precious stones and gold. The luxurious Caribbean setting we are in also hints at the deserted island along with all these emblems, paying homage to Stevenson’s beautiful text with this collection. Sometimes we get inspired by a very literary story like this one, but our other High Jewellery collections could be about expertise in stones like Legend of Diamonds or specific locations like the Le Grand Tour — a diversity of expressions and inspirations that create interest, surprise and curiosity for the public.
LO: Can you encapsulate the creative highlights of the collection?
CR: The collection’s three chapters as reinterpreted by Van Cleef & Arpels are Adventure at sea, Exploring the island and The treasure hunt. Adventure at sea is probably the most literal interpretation of the book with the Hispaniola clip, named clearly showcasing the Maison’s love for colour and its gold after the boat the crew embarked on for their journey; and the Pirate clips, each named after Stevenson’s characters with the eye patch, treasure under the foot, one leg and the hat — a very playful and non-aggressive interpretation that you could imagine a child playing with.
This first chapter is also a tribute to the Maison’s maritime inspiration, having celebrated the beauty of the oceans and nautical world across different eras in our collections while paying homage to the Maison’s technical mastery. The En haute mer transformable necklace is a contemporary ode to the nautical world with the traditional art of sailor’s knots and the Maison’s braided yellow gold craftmanship from the 1940s. You also discover these golden ropes in several other designs, including the rings in The treasure hunt chapter.
The second chapter is about the island, leaning very close to Van Cleef & Arpels’ fauna and flora theme, venturing beyond our traditional expressions and opening up our world in this universe with palm trees; talking less about butterflies but turtles crawling on the beach; and seashells as seen on the seashell clip and bracelets.
The last chapter is about the treasure chest where the imagination is the limit, and in our mind, is full of colours, gemstones and gold. We wanted to bring this to life in the collection with multiple cocktail rings — large rings in yellow gold with colourful sapphires, emeralds and rubies mixed, clearly showcasing the Maison’s love for colour and its gold work. We imagine Jim Hawkins and his pirate peers had travelled the seas of the world to bring back treasures from faraway horizons to deposit in their chest — splendours from Asia and pre-Columbian cultures — as our interpretations. In real as we learnt yesterday at the L’ÉCOLE School of Jewelry Arts talks (a series of three short lectures on Stevenson’s literary work, and historical jewellery designs and treasure chests), they didn't travel that far but we wanted to open up and be very imaginative with this treasure chest and what we would love for the treasures to look like.
