Van Cleef & Arpels’ animal jewellery celebrates spring

New animal jewellery pieces in Van Cleef & Arpels’ ‘Lucky Animals’ and ‘Lucky Spring’ collections rethink familiar motifs

Van Cleef & Arpels revisits playful design codes with new collections of fine jewellery, ‘Lucky Spring’ and ‘Lucky Animals’, putting both animals and cheerful spring motifs centre stage.

First released in 2017, the ‘Lucky Animals’ collection here rethinks the boldly drawn clips that characterised the original pieces. The teddy bear, fox, dachshund, bichon frisé and frog are sketched in yellow gold and filled in with onyx, malachite, grey mother-of-pearl and carnelian, cutting bold silhouettes.

‘The "Lucky Animals" collection echoes the humorous wildlife creations of La Boutique,’ notes Van Cleef & Arpels. ‘Created in 1954, it was intended to enrich Van Cleef & Arpels’ range with more accessible, daywear jewellery: it notably included playful and light-hearted clips, known as ‘‘young jewels’’. Over the years, funny and touching animals, inspired by the first American cartoons, were created. The "Lucky Animals" collection follows this path by embodying the benevolent and generous nature that has always inspired Van Cleef & Arpels. The clips are astonishingly vivid: the animals seem to have been captured in their natural movements, their penetrating onyx gaze full of curiosity. Named Teddy Bear, Fox, Dachshund, Bichon Frisé, and Frog, they reveal delicate combinations of ornamental stones and mother-of-pearl, bordered by golden beads. With their lively expressions, they renew the Van Cleef & Arpels benevolent tradition.’

The animal jewellery joins floral pieces in new additions to the "Lucky Spring" collection, defined by warmer tones of rose gold, white mother-of-pearl, onyx, and carnelian, with the faithful rendering of the pieces requiring a sharply defined technical prowess.

‘The "Lucky Animals" collection features many combinations of materials and colours,’ the team add, ‘which therefore requires precision and intricacy throughout the creative process. Cutting the stones and mother-of-pearl and polishing the pieces are delicate operations, due to the small size of the components. The fine gold beads that outline the animals’ silhouettes are individually hand-polished, bringing out a precious touch of light. Highly polished gold is used on the legs, ears, and muzzles of the new pieces to bring the animals to life.’

selfridges.com

£6,250, available from selfridges.com

Hannah Silver joined Wallpaper* in 2019 to work on watches and jewellery. Now, as well as her role as watches and jewellery editor, she writes widely across all areas including on art, architecture, fashion and design. As well as offbeat design trends and in-depth profiles, Hannah is interested in the quirks of what makes for a digital success story.

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