VAN CLEEF & ARPELS

In jewellery, the circle represents love, trust and fidelity – that which is everlasting because it has no beginning and no end. Van Cleef & Arpels has looked to this symbol of eternity for two new designs for its Perlée collection, unadorned save for rows upon rows of beads encircling a bracelet and a ring. The individually polished gold beads are hand-placed across three or five curved rows, creating an opulent three-dimensional effect, while cra smen also applied the house’s mirror-polishing technique to lend an iridescent sheen to the underside of the pieces. The bracelets are available in three sizes, and have a discrete clasp mechanism hidden under a single, larger bead. Gilded beads have appeared in the maison’s creations since the 1920s, initially by themselves and later paired with rubies, diamonds and pearls. The simplicity of the two new designs, though, is no less effective, because they embrace the 120-year-old maison’s tradition of superior cra smanship. The circle continues.