Ever captivated by the transformations of nature, Van Cleef & Arpels has transposed the grace of flora into jewellery. For this holiday season, the Maison is enhancing its jewellery garden with four new Rose de Noël creations. Born in 1970, this collection highlights a flower that blooms in winter
In a poetic setting, two pendants and two pairs of earrings in grey mother-of-pearl and white gold, or turquoise and yellow gold take centre stage. These compositions reflect Van Cleef & Arpels’ stone expertise.
The Rose de Noël collection celebrates the vitality of flora in the heart of winter. The six cabochon petals adorning each corolla seem to come alive in the breeze. Their arrangement on different levels reinforces this sense of movement. This volume is combined with subtly asymmetrical motifs.
In these compositions, presented in an unprecedented size, the central structure of the flower is also revealed in three dimensions. The pistil, within which three discreetly raised diamonds sparkle, is made of fine strands of gold, also arranged at different heights and inclined at different angles.
The setting in yellow or white gold is obtained using the ancestral technique of lost-wax casting, embodying Van Cleef & Arpels’ jewellery making expertise. It is then reworked and assembled by hand by the Maison’s craftsmen. Polishing, too, requires meticulous attention to detail due to the delicacy of the components.
Van Cleef & Arpels combines its jewellery savoir-faire with its taste for gemstones to bring the new Rose de Noël creations to life. The gems are subjected to a strict selection process, forged by over a hundred years of expertise. The Maison’s Stone Department seeks out specimens that stand out both for their proportions and their quality, to bestow each petal with volume and relief.
The grey mother-of-pearl, an organic material derived from shells, has been selected for its uniform colour and soft iridescence ranging from green to pink. Turquoise, formed by water passing through copper-rich rock, enlivens the pieces with its bright tones that vary from light to intense shades of blue. The selected stones are cut in volume, then polished to accentuate their brilliance before being matched into sets of six for pendants, or twelve for earrings, to ensure a uniform colour.
Once set into the precious metal structure, they create a shimmering play of light in which the liveliness of turquoise combines with the sunny radiance of yellow gold, while the depth of grey mother-of-pearl is underlined by the brilliance of white gold. Each motif is illuminated at its centre by three round diamonds. In the Van Cleef & Arpels tradition of excellence, only the highest qualities are retained: D to F for colour, and IF to VVS for clarity.
Among the flowers featured by the Maison since 1906, the Christmas rose has been interpreted since 1970. With its domed corollas, gold and diamond pistils, and combinations of ornamental stones or organic materials, this collection echoes the explosion of colour and form that made this decade so vibrant. It also reflects the bohemian style in vogue at the time in many artistic fields.
Following an initial piece in coral and yellow gold, the Rose de Noël collection has expanded over the years with colourful variations. Clips, earrings and Between the Finger rings have thus been adorned with turquoise, onyx, or wood. Combining cabochon petals and round diamonds, the aesthetic of these creations spans the ages to pay homage to nature, Van Cleef & Arpels’ emblematic source of inspiration.
