WINTER WONDERLAND

Each year, VAN CLEEF & ARPELS celebrates the magical spectacle of nature donning her winter cloak with a special collection called “Diamond Breeze”. The enchanting period is celebrated this year with new diamond-set creations that are part of the French j

A BETWEEN-THE-FINGER RING, a pendant and a pair of earrings compose a radiant ensemble, encapsulating a reinterpretation of the lotus flower’s symbolism in bouquets of three or four. Inspired by flower creations designed in the late 1920s and reinterpreted at the dawn of the 21st Century, the Lotus collection is taking on an original multi-floral aesthetic, imagined in new dimensions, and reminiscent of snow-covered nature.

Sacred in Asia, the lotus flower is a symbol of beauty, purity and completion. First appearing in the 1920s on Van Cleef & Arpels creations of Egyptian style, it epitomises the maison’s harmonious universe. In 2001, it bloomed for the first time on a between-the-finger ring, which was to become a signature piece within the Lotus collection.

Redesigned in 2017, the creation calls forth a new way of wearing rings, with a motif that can expand over one or several fingers – thanks to an ingenious system.

Also featured in high jewellery collections as a clip or a decorative element on a Zip necklace, the lotus flower contributes to one of the maison’s great traditions: so-called “white jewellery”, blending the sparkle of diamonds and the gleam of white gold or platinum. Lotus motifs of varying sizes exhibit their shimmering petals on transformable pendants, earrings and bracelets.

The plant world, and flowers in particular, remain an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Van Cleef & Arpels’ creative vision. A mirror of changing artistic tastes, the jeweller’s garden is lush with a vast array of species: meadow flowers like daisies, buttercups, garden flowers such as camellias, chrysanthemums, fuchsias, as well as forest flowers like anemones, lilies of the valley, violets and bellflowers.

For the new “Diamond Breeze” collection, motifs of varying sizes feature on the between-thefinger ring, adorned with a floral quartet. Delicately sloping upward, each petal depicts the infinitesimal motion of a flower in the breeze. Subtly positioned at different heights, the corollas seem to quiver, sublimating the silhouette with their dazzling grace.

Made up of three asymmetrical flowers, emblematic of the Van Cleef & Arpels style, the pendant shimmers on the neckline. The openwork technique, which consists of creating gaps in the golden structure to allow light to pass through the

diamonds, further amplifies their brilliance.

The aesthetic also gives rise to a pair of earrings, representing three flowers, two of which are in contact with the skin. The third corolla is suspended, crowning this poetic interpretation of a flower made precious by the expert hands of the maison’s craftsmen. Combining their art with that of jewellers and polishers, gem setters call on several setting techniques – bead and prong setting – for a bright composition.

Through these designs, Van Cleef & Arpels captures all the ephemeral beauty of nature, imbuing it with an air of eternity.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS GROUND FLOOR, EMPORIUM