By royal approval: Van Cleef & Arpels' floral jewels

Times

20-06-2025

A century ago, the jewellery designer Alfred Van Cleef introduced an extraordinary floral bracelet at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels in Paris, the fair that is credited with launching the art deco movement. Adorned with diamonds, rubies and emeralds set in platinum, Van Cleef's Fleurs enlacées, roses rouges et blanches (Entwined Flowers) cuff evoked a border of blowsy red and white roses and stunned the judges, who awarded the jewel the Grand Prix.
Since then, bejewelled buds, sparkling corollas and golden leaves have flourished within Van Cleef & Arpels' design repertoire. 'Nature has been a perennial source of inspiration,' says the company's CEO, Catherine Rénier. 'For me, this theme embodies freshness, vitality and joy.'
As the techniques of its craftsmen have evolved, so have the jeweller's motifs. Patented in 1933, its signature Mystery setting allowed precious stones to be arranged tightly together without any visible metal, giving the petals of rose, peony and chrysanthemum brooches an unprecedented volume, depth of colour and almost velvety texture. With the sleek lines and pared-back silhouettes of early mid-century modernism came a plethora of stylised florals, such as the Fleur Silhouette brooch from 1937, which was crafted from loops of gold wire and curved rows of precious stones. Around the same time, Hélène Arpels — the glamorous wife of Louis, the youngest of the Arpels brothers, who regularly appeared on international best-dressed lists — was pictured wearing the house's iconic Passe-Partout collection at the Prix de Diane horse race in Chantilly. These multipurpose jewels had chunky sapphire, ruby and diamond flower clips threaded onto flexible gold 'Tubogas' chains, allowing them to be worn as bracelets, necklaces or belts.
By 1939, one of the maison's gem-set posies had found its way into the wardrobe of one of the era's most infamous women, Wallis Simpson. The Duchess of Windsor was a longtime admirer of Van Cleef & Arpels' work, and many of the spectacular jewels in her collection (so large it has been dubbed the 'alternative Crown Jewels') hailed from its atelier, including a ruby and diamond bracelet gifted to her in 1936 by the Duke of Windsor (memorably inscribed with the words 'Hold tight'); a ruby-studded 'cravat' necklace that was a 40th birthday present, and a polished sapphire and diamond clip that she wore for her marriage to the Duke in 1937.
For Christmas the following year, the Duchess received an ornate brooch shaped like a bouquet of ruby and sapphire flowers from her doting husband. The 8in-long jewel came from a new Van Cleef & Arpels collection called Hawaï, which featured miniature red and blue blossoms dotted about 18-carat gold stems and leaves. The gift was a hit: the Duchess wore it to sit for the artist Gerald Leslie Brockhurst in 1939 and the resulting portrait was given pride of place in the library at the Windsors' villa in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. (It is now displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in London.)
Next month, Van Cleef & Arpels will unveil the latest take on its Hawaï design, entitled Fleurs d'Hawaï, in a garden with a modern royal connection. The capsule line of graphic floral earrings, rings and three 'secret' watches — all composed with vibrant, pear-cut gemstone petals and white diamond pistils set in gold — will debut in a sunny spot within the five-acre Queen Elizabeth walled garden at Dumfries House, the 18th-century Palladian mansion in East Ayrshire that was saved for the nation by King Charles in 2007. The 2,000-acre estate is now also the headquarters of the King's Foundation, a charity founded in 1990 to champion regenerative community projects and sustainability.
Since 2023, the maison has been the principal patron of the King's Foundation Gardens and Estates (which also includes the Castle of Mey in Scotland and Highgrove in Gloucestershire), helping to fund its extensive horticultural projects, such as boosting biodiversity and the creation of new woodlands and hedgerows. Among its first initiatives was preserving the rose garden at Dumfries House. The 3,300-plus plants that fill its beds and scramble over its arbours bear luxuriant, fragrant blooms resembling clusters of deep red rubies, pink spinels and peach-tinted sapphires in the summer sunlight.
'It is such a focal point for the celebration of nature and the gardens,' says Simon Sadinsky, executive director at the King's Foundation. 'Dumfries and Van Cleef & Arpels both understand the importance of preserving traditional skills and crafts, and of providing the next generation with the opportunity to learn these traditions. In our one-acre education garden, we teach young people about seasonal growing and sustainable waste. You'll find students from local schools there, as well as trainees and experts from around the world. An appreciation of nature and understanding our part in the ecosystem is really fundamental to the King.'
Much like the youth programmes at Dumfries House, a key part of Van Cleef & Arpels' strategy is its own educational platform, De Mains en Mains (From Hands to Hands), which introduces school pupils to the heritage crafts of jewellery making and goldsmithing, and offers mentorship to adults who hope to work in the jewellery sector. It is also growing its manufacturing ateliers in France to meet the demand for its bestsellers, such as the clover-shaped Alhambra design, an evergreen favourite of the Queen and the Princess of Wales. Each 18-carat gold four-leaf motif is still finished entirely by hand and every one of its colourful ornamental stone centres is cut and polished by an artisan, just as they were when the collection first appeared in 1968. vancleefarpels.com