Bejewelled Bounty: Treasure Island by Van Cleef & Arpels Part II
Continuing the deep dive into the Maison’s mesmerising High Jewellery collection and its savoir-faire of design and craftsmanship with CEO Catherine Rénier.
LO: Which collection and creation are your favourites, and why?
CR: That’s not easy, and it’s a lot of them. My “favourite” piece, because I think it summarises the collection perfectly, is the Palmier Mystérieux transformable clip or the palm tree clip. It encapsulates the three chapters, including the Mystery Set and transformability. This is a fantastic clip, and very symbolic of the treasure chest. I also like the first chapter of the journey as I’m more of a person who resonates with the action of the quest than just finding the treasure. I love the journey, the boat, the adventure and the unknown. The team spirit and enthusiasm of that chapter are expressed through the three pirates.
LO: How do the pirate clips differ from fairy clips in the making process?
CR: These masculine figures are very colourful characters that need to be representative of their own identity but at the same time, aligned with the vision of Van Cleef & Arpels being non-aggressive. I think we succeeded in that — if you notice, the same shape of diamond adorns the face of the fairy or ballerina, and now the pirate — it has been since the beginning of these characters, and for us, it's a continuity. We craft these characters in the same way as we do the Moussaillon necklace using green wax sculpting. The trick for these characters is to be very proportionate and achieve a natural posture and attitude to portray who they are. This process is probably the most challenging for the ballerinas because their pose is technical, unlike the free pose of a pirate. Once you have mastered how to represent a ballerina, I guess pirates can be easier. [laughs]
LO: How is the Maison’s jewellery savoir-faire celebrated in the collection?
CR: This collection is also a very strong one about the Maison’s Traditional Mystery Set, patented in 1933, where the stones are set from underneath with the metal being hidden from the surface. With the naked eye, you only see the stones close to each other, held underneath by metal, that have been cut specifically for them to be perfectly fitted, as well as representing the volume and shape of the design. The Mystery Set with rubies is featured on the shell necklace, and for emeralds, the most challenging Mystery Set with the emerald being very fragile, there is no metal on the leaves of the palm tree clip to realise its full representation. This clip is also transformable, starting with a boat you go on in the sunset to the island where you end up finding the treasure — all in one piece and a true symbol of the collection. I love how the Mystery Set technique and transformability are used to showcase the Maison’s inspiration, expertise and heritage. This is where the whole universe fuels each other for the Maison to expand on the inspiration. We have in this collection as well the Vitrail Mystery Set with coloured sapphires dispatched like a canvas to create an array of colours, like looking at the sea with small fishes swimming through it.
LO: The Maison is known for its expertise in stone selection. How is this showcased in the collection?
CR: An element that is not secondary in creating the collection is the stone selection. At first look, you notice the beauty of the story and the universe in the three chapters, but the stone selection is one-of-a-kind in terms of extraordinary stones. It’s the perfect representation of the Maison’s stone expertise that has taken root in who we are as a jeweller — a stone expert and an artisan. Our stone selection is always with stones that have a very unique identity, picked by Van Cleef & Arpels for their colour, origin, size and shape that gives them a special character.
Here it's the cabochon emerald of 48 carats from Colombia, an exceptional stone coming from one of the most renowned sources of emeralds in the world in a very unique shape and size. That makes this Palmeraie merveilleuse necklace part of a unique stone collection. Another set of emeralds in a different expression is the seven emerald-cut emeralds, all synchronised in shape and colour, paired with sapphires and flowing from smaller to bigger stones to fully give life to this architectural necklace design, inspired by the windows on the sides of a galleon.
With sapphires, there are two extraordinary pieces and one is this En haute mer necklace for the craft of the gold, but the stone is also one to talk about: a 55-carat Sri Lankan sapphire of amazing size and colour. The next is the Cordage infini necklace with the beauty of two pear-shaped sapphires, perfectly matched in shape and colour, and transformable into earrings. Last but not least is the Nœuds marins necklace with the turquoise and emerald colour association. The 32-carat Colombian emerald with incredible colour is associated with a cabochon turquoise of exceptional size and purity that reminds of the ocean’s beauty and the green of a deserted island. We have paid 60 full tribute and interpretation to the collection, creating a complete universe around it, from the dinner last night to the illustrations by comic-book illustrator David B., who worked on the Stevenson story commissioned by Van Cleef & Arpels to interpret the beauty of the three chapters and give life to the inspiration and story outside the jewels that Van Cleef and Arpels wanted to celebrate.
