Since 1906, Van Cleef & Arpels has offered a crafted, majestic luxury experience. According to Van Cleef & Arpels, tradition is more than just beautiful jewels; it interprets and provides the concept of ”poetry” and “fantasy” in high jewelry.

Van Cleef & Arpels was the result of a romance between Estelle Arpel (the daughter of a jeweler) and Alfred Van Cleef (the son of a stonecutter). The brand’s passion for sparkle became its legacy.

The jewelry did not follow design trends. Instead, it was a decorative work that became jewels of wonder, creating stories, narratives, and introducing elements of storytelling. This distinctively unique design has many historic, patented, and valued signature designs that define Van Cleef & Arpels pieces.

The 'Mains d'Or': Masters of Artistry

Van Cleef & Arpels refers to the 'Mains d'Or' for master jewelers, stone-setters, and polishers.  This is their terminology for a small team of artisans who are expert talents for the brand's houses.  These artisans apply all their skill and artistic impassion to develop a piece. 

In high jewelry, the making of any jewelry can be thousands of hours, and while this sounds like a cliché, it takes time to truly assemble and honour the precious materials. They then breathe life into the materials and the piece. 

The Mains d'Or servant artists can count every detail's context, purpose, and overall harmony between each jewel by working for thousands of hours. 

Van Cleef & Arpels remain fully committed to excellence in master artisanship by employing all the glory and magic into making its physical nature an immortal work of art. These elegant pieces retain their value over time, making them ideal for keeping as an investment, until you decide that you want to sell it.

The Alhambra Collection: An Enduring Symbol of Luck

No design may be more synonymous with Van Cleef & Arpels than the Alhambra series. Launched in 1968, the simple four-leaf clover design was an instant hit with the public and remains a style icon for over fifty years. The Alhambra design from the signature brand, inspired by the quatrefoils from Alhambra Palace, Granada, Spain, relates to a special goal of luck for the brand.

Delicate Craftsmanship

One of the beautifully delicate aspects of the Alhambra design is its fragrant delicacy. Each clover shape is surrounded by a fine border made of a golden beaded type of material. It's an iconic assumption that highlights the perfectionism of the master artisans who are employed in the Maison.

Precious Stones and Timeless Appeal

The Alhambra collection is famous for its lively and ornamental stones such as Mother-of-Pearl, Malachite, Onyx, Carnelian, etc. The work that goes into each stone, cutting, polishing, and mounting each stone, is tiresome and time-consuming. The finishing product looks beautiful and consistent.

It’s hard to imagine the Alhambra could be anything but a classic acquisition for any collection, and for someone just starting, to buy jewelry items from such an iconic collection is an exceptional first step for anyone passionate about contemporary high jewelry.

Mystery Set: A Revolution in Setting Stones

In modern jewelry, great strides have also been achieved in the progress of the Van Cleef & Arpels Serti Mysterious (Mystery Set). Patented in 1933, this incredible and revolutionary process does not allow for any prongs or visible metal in, on, or around the gemstones, allowing a clear unbroken flow of color and creating a velvet-like sheen.

The Mystery Set is incredibly complex. Each cut stone features intricate grooves that allow it to be placed into fine gold lattice work, which is not visible. The process is so involved that a clip can take thousands of hours to produce. 

Mystery Set pieces are scarce, and these pieces are the most illustrative of the artistry of Van Cleef & Arpels. Suppose a collector wants to sell a piece like this. In that case, they will desperately want a reputable expert they can trust to sell jewelry items to ensure they get it valued and compensated fairly.

The Zip Necklace: Haute Couture to High Jewelry

The backstory of the Zip necklace is as original as the design itself. The story goes that in the late 1930s, the Duchess of Windsor told Renée Puissant, the Maison’s artistic director and the daughter of Estelle Arpels, to create a piece inspired by a zipper. 

It took more than ten years of technical development to make this bold idea a reality. The first Zip van Cleef necklace was produced in 1950.

This extraordinary piece is an engineering and design marvel. It is made from gold, set with diamonds (or other gems), so it behaves like a genuine zipper. It could be worn as a necklace. Open it or zip it shut, and it becomes a classy Van Cleef bracelet. 

The Zip Van Cleef necklace represents the brand’s lively nature and explores the idea of revealing new possibilities in design and production. It is the ultimate combination of form and function, a feature that holds important power in the luxury world. 

The prevailing spirit of innovative design is just one reason why many customers love buying designer bags, which function equally to the Zip necklace, combining practicality with high fashion.

An Enchanted World: Nature, Faeries, and Poetic Watches

Van Cleef & Arpels are associated with the mix of beauty, craftsmanship, and storytelling. Its designs are grounded in inspiration by nature and imagination to create something unique with every piece.

Nature as a Source of Inspiration

Van Cleef & Arpels maintains its position in the world of enchantment with its most iconic symbols present. Nature may be the most critical source of inspiration for the Maison of Van Cleef & Arpels.

Life in Every Creation

The collections are filled with naturalistic floral brooches, loving butterfly clips, and animal shapes that spring to life with worked colored stones. The collection features these flowers and animals not as mere representations of nature, but manifestations of life.

Poetic Watches as Storytellers

This storytelling mechanism may be articulated most beautifully in the brand's watches. The Poetic Complications collection takes the watch face to a new level of storytelling by allowing a watch dial to act as a small stage. The Pont des Amoureux (lover's bridge) watch, for instance, has two people who animate on the dial, and kiss at noon and at midnight.

The time-telling devices are more than just a watch; they are an art, framed, harboring a singularly sentimental and exquisitely ephemeral moment. The pieces reveal creativity that allows them to be mathematicians and collectors, just as the best pieces of art and jewelry do.

Final Thoughts

The heritage of Van Cleef & Arpels was built on a legacy of discovery, creativity, and artistry. Each piece is artistic with its own story, whether for a new good luck charm, an expression of love, or a moment of happiness in nature. 

Each piece perhaps sparks an emotion. Our devotion to artistry is what transcends the creations of the Maison from simply jewelry to a family heirloom that can last for generations.

To the contemporary collector, luxury is a free world. One appreciates the culture and artistry in a Van Cleef & Arpels high jewel, and the equal level of detail and tradition can be cherished in other fine designer goods. 

When collectors seek to upgrade or refine, they work alongside experts. Often, we hear collectors say that they want to sell designer bags to buy designer jewelry. 

The long-lasting prestige of Van Cleef & Arpels is a powerful statement in the luxury business - that luxury is not material wealth but owning a piece of a beautiful, masterfully told story.