VanCleef & Arpels opens stand-alone jewelry store
Van Cleef & Arpels opens first stand-alone boutique in Vancouver
There aren’t many brands that would say no to expanding their product offering to new categories.
After all, the exploration of previously unexplored product territories can often lead to more exposure for a company — not to mention higher sales. What starts as an accessories brand easily evolves to include ready-to-wear clothing, beauty and, in some cases, home decor.
Van Cleef & Arpels isn’t buying it. “We don’t want to do anything,” Alain Bernard, the company’s president and chief executive of the Americas, says.
“Our metier — our art — is high jewelry and watchmaking. That’s what we do. And we try to do it the best we can.”
It doesn’t require a stretch of the imagination to see just how easy it would be for the French High Jewelry house to segue into other areas. A chic, structured handbag featuring a mother-of-pearl closure in the shape of the iconic motif found in the Alhambra collection, perhaps, or a delicate slipper in the house’s trademark shade of green.
But, for Bernard, it’s the brand’s disinterest in branching out into the aforementioned categories that keeps him, well, interested.
“What I love in particular about this maison, is we stay true to our self,” he says. “We don’t try to do things which are not Van Cleef & Arpels, just because it would look good for a generation. We don’t do marketing. We just don’t. Everything is creation driven.
“We have very strong, rooted values on creation — without compromise. We try to be relevant and as excellent as possible in what we do.”
What the Richemont Groupowned brand does “do” is create handmade high jewelry and timepiece collections synonymous in the industry with high luxury and even higher style.
“We have been doing high jewelry the best that we can for 111 years,” Bernard says. “We know that what we do has a meaning.
“One of the buzzwords these days is authenticity. And everything we do is definitely about authenticity. We don’t lie and we don’t cheat. Everything we do is completely genuine because it’s what we do and it’s what our clients appreciate.”
It is perhaps this brand vision that has allowed the company to develop a vast international consumer base — including a growing number of shoppers in Canada. Van Cleef & Arpels customers know what they are going to get from the brand.
And they’re seemingly happy to buy into that.
The company is looking to further its foothold in Vancouver with the recent opening of its first stand-alone Van Cleef & Arpels boutique in the city, and second in Canada, located at 1069 Alberni St.
“In Vancouver, in particular, we felt with the expansion of this market — not just with numbers and volume — there was an appreciation for design and art, which is
what we do,” Bernard says.
“And when we talk about an East meets-West city, I think Vancouver is a perfect representation of it. We have Hong Kong and we have Vancouver, and I would say that I see a lot of similarities in that there is a lot of diversity of cultures.
“We love to see that because, for us, we feel that diversity of culture when we are in a specific market is very important for us. It means we have all kinds of clients who travel a lot and are exposed to a lot, in terms of culture, which for us, is a great proof of an appreciation of jewelry.”
Van Cleef & Arpels has had a presence in Vancouver for several years through a partnership with Birks, which Bernard says will continue, but he said the timing was right for an expanded offering in the city. And the level of interest from locals was apparently proven on opening day.
“Our very first client at the boutique was a woman who knew we were opening,” Bernard says with a smile. “And, at 10 o’clock in the morning, she was waiting at the door for it to open. Van Cleef & Arpels is already doing well in Vancouver, and will do even better.”
The 4,000-square-metre boutique, which features two storeys of shopping including jewelry and watches and boasts art deco design elements and eye-catching features such as Murano glass chandeliers and gold-tone draperies, is the second largest for the brand in North America, just after New York.
“It is something significant,” Bernard notes of the shop’s size. “That has a lot of meaning for us and, I hope, for our clients.”
Despite the luxury price points of the products, Bernard says the aim of the boutique was to feel “homey” and “comfortable,” like a welcoming apartment.
To cross the door of a jewelry store, sometimes you have to be a little bit daring. And we don’t want that. We want to be as welcoming as possible.
“Not too impressive and intimidating because, high jewelry, and jewelry in general, can be intimidating,” he explains. “To cross the door of a jewelry store, sometimes you have to be a little bit daring. And we don’t want that. We want to be as welcoming as possible.”
In addition to the glinting jewelled designs and opulent decor, the boutique also features an element not traditionally associated with a retail shop: a library boasting bound tomes highlighting the French brand’s long history.
“We like when our clients actually take the books and read them. It’s made for that, it’s not just a decorative element,” Bernard explains of the feature. “We come from somewhere. We were not born yesterday. We have 111 years of history, 111 years of great history in different countries and cities with different personalities.
“Every creation comes from some type of historical inspiration. It’s a cycle. Each creation brings some richness to the next one, and the next one, and the next one. There is a continuity of history and the continuity of patrimony. And to understand Van Cleef & Arpels, it’s important to spend some time on the website, or reading our books in order to understand where we come from.”