Fleur de Pommier necklace, 2005, Private Collection
The entire boutique transformed into a treasure trove. Two hundred square meters where guests and customers can feel like jewels among jewels. Until March 1, 2014, the spaces of the Van Cleef & Arpels boutique in Geneva are transformed into a museum, showcasing over 150 vintage creations from the historic Parisian maison, some of which are also from private collectors. In the recently renovated spaces with soft pink tones, pieces that have marked the art and creativity of the house founded in 1906 by Alfred Van Cleef and his wife Estelle Arpels are on display at 22 Place Vandome.
A never-ending mix of tradition and innovation, which has produced, for example, the legendary Zip necklace, reproduced in infinite and always precious versions. And then there are the “birds of paradise,” butterflies, peonies, and apple blossoms that now belong to the unique and fantastic world that Van Cleef & Arpels has shaped, drawing inspiration from nature, history, and culture. Among the showcased jewels, the Lovebirds from 1946 stand out: imagine Europe just emerging from the war and the maison creating this unique union between love and the desire for collective peace.
Or the creations of the 1920s, echoing the fever for the exotic and Ancient Egypt that treasures from the Valley of the Kings had spread in Europe: a bracelet that appears to come directly from Tutankhamun’s tomb, created in 1924 with platinum, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds, and a cigarette holder from 1927, decorated with Persian arabesques, in platinum, yellow gold, jade, coral, diamonds, and enamels. Up to the Ibiza necklace from the 1970s in yellow gold, amethysts, corals, and diamonds, and the approximately 40 historical pieces from the Heritage Collection: they belonged to private collectors, then the maison purchased them for resale…
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