New season, new blooms at Van Cleef & Arpels

IT may be summer all year round here in Singapore, but in the Northern Hemisphere, the arrival of spring is being heralded with joyous blooms.

For Van Cleef & Arpels, that is familiar ground, as it has had a long history of floral designs that began in 1907 with the Marguerite brooch. Since then, bouquets have appeared in the 1920s, large corollas unfurled in the 1930s, and along the way, jewellery sets and accessories such as minaudieres celebrated fresh flora.

In the 1940s, heart-shaped petals appeared on cigarette cases and pill boxes, then on a Trefle clip in 1954. These tributes to flowers have given the French luxury jeweller the opportunity to showcase its technical skills and creative development through clips, earrings, rings, bracelets and pendants.

From 2003, the Frivole collection joined Van Cleef & Arpel’s floral creations with polished gold or diamond-paved petals. Incidentally, the mirror polish is a signature technique of the brand’s since the 1920s, and is carefully performed by hand on each Frivole piece to enhance radiance.

And of course, every spring now represents the chance for the house to rejuvenate the collection with new pieces.

This season, five cheerful items are being introduced into the Frivole family.

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The first is a white gold, seven-flower bracelet studded with almost 300 diamonds. The gems run along much of the cuff bracelet and cover the graphic flowers which are arranged asymmetrically. The curved, heart-shaped petals are also tilted such that they resemble the liveliness of their natural counterparts.

To ensure maximum brilliance, openings are cut into the bracelet so that light can pass unimpeded through the gemstones.

For those who love the softer hue that rose gold offers over yellow gold, Frivole has a new jewellery set in the material that is gently interspersed with diamonds. At the heart of each flower on a pendant and pair of earrings is a single, sparkling diamond.

Part of this set is a ring with two mirror-polished, asymmetrical rose gold flowers that pop up between the fingers when worn. Dubbed the Between the Finger ring, one diamond is set in the middle of the smaller flower and three on the larger one.

If you love rings but can’t decide between white or rose gold, then a voluminous, eight-flower ring being offered for the first time, is the perfect option. Three diamond paved white gold flowers are joined by five mirror-polished rose gold versions with a central diamond in each of them.

The eight blooms are positioned at different heights, spreading out three-dimensionally, just as a bouquet would in real life. Like the bracelet, openings have also been made in the ring to allow light through and intensify the diamonds’ sparkle.