High jewellery represents the pinnacle of the goldsmith’s craft, a fantasy of no-holds-barred, budget-be-damned design and giant diamonds. As more and more luxury houses enter the bejewelled fray to create their own collections, Van Cleef Arpels, one of the OGs of haute joaillerie, steadies its course, eschewing gimmicks and celebrity endorsement in favour of focusing on its core values of high culture and high design.
That’s not to say it doesn’t know how to throw a party. Top clients and press from around the world recently gathered at the Villa Medici, the magnificent Renaissance palace high above the sultry, tourist-packed streets of Rome, for a lavish, carnival-style celebration of Van Cleef’s latest collection, Le Grand Tour.
The Villa Medici, built in 1540 for Cardinal Ricci da Montepulciano, today houses the French Academy, a centre for artists and scholars studying the ancient and Renaissance-era riches of the Eternal City. Indeed, Rome has attracted visitors for centuries, from conquering armies and crusaders to the wealthy young aristocrats (mainly men, thanks to the times) who made it one of the essential stops on their Grand Tour of Europe.
Long before Google Arts and Culture could take you on a virtual tour of the world’s treasures from the comfort of your sofa, the Grand Tour took in destinations such as Paris, Venice and Naples, as a means of rounding out a young person’s cultural education and developing their artistic taste. It was a tradition that began in England in the 16th century and reached its peak in the 18th and 19th centuries, with travellers bringing home souvenirs such as cameos from Naples and antiquities from Pompeii.
“The collection pays tribute to the beautiful idea of travelling for art and education,” said chief executive and president Nicolas Bos at the Villa Medici event, which was inspired by a 19th century painting of the palace. Dancing horses, harlequins, performers on stilts and masked dancers frolicked through the formal gardens, before a dinner prepared by celebrated French chef Emmanuel Renaut. After nightfall came a moonlit opera performance, the soprano suspended high over the formal gardens in a hot air balloon, just like the one depicted in the painting.
All of this was a precursor, of course, to the jewellery itself, and Van Cleef did not disappoint. With each of the eight chapters taking a tour destination for its inspiration, the house showcased its collection of rare gemstones and its mastery of gold and transformability. One necklace echoes the waterways of Venice in vivid turquoise cabochons, each one topped by an arch of gold, sapphires and diamonds that evokes the city’s low bridges.
The awe-inspiring natural landscape of the Alps in winter is represented by a necklace centred on two gobstopper-sized blue-green tourmalines that are complemented by the blue and violet tones of the surrounding sapphires, aquamarines and tanzanites. In classic Van Cleef style, the choker can be worn with or without a detachable clip, for maximum wearability.
The house has a long history of brooches and clips, and the German spa town of Baden-Baden inspired three that capture the natural beauty of the Black Forest. A rare bi-colour boulder opal becomes the trunk of a shimmering willow tree, with fruits of pink and blue sapphires that sway with the wearer’s movement.
Van Cleef calls this collection an “invitation to dream and escape”, and given the state of the news, perhaps that’s something we could all do with right now.