The opening evening of the event exhibition “Van Cleef & Arpels, l’Art de la Haute Joaillerie” was held on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 in the majestic nave of the Arts Décoratifs, in Paris.
During the evening, guests were able to admire the creative audacity of Van Cleef & Arpels, the House of Haute Joaillerie founded on Place Vendôme in 1906. More than 500 prestigious pieces were on display in the nave of the Arts Décoratifs, alongside numerous archive documents and drawings. The history of Van Cleef & Arpels is punctuated by technical inventions handed down from generation to generation by the Mains d’Or™ of the workshops. This know-how, kept secret, combined with a free-flowing imagination and sources of inspiration, are at the origin of a formidable profusion of shapes and models, highlighted within a dreamlike scenography designed by Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku.
Hélène David-Weill, President of Les Arts Décoratifs, and Stanislas de Quercize, President of Van Cleef & Arpels, were honored to welcome H.S.H. Princess Charlène of Monaco, who offered the public the exceptional opportunity to discover the Ocean tiara.
This unique piece, which can be transformed into a necklace, was created by Van Cleef & Arpels on the occasion of its wedding to Sovereign Prince Albert II of Monaco on July 1 and 2, 2011, and has been specially loaned by H.S.H. Princess Charlene of Monaco for the retrospective “Van Cleef & Arpels, l’Art de la Haute Joaillerie”.
For the inauguration evening, H.S.H. Princess Charlène of Monaco wore Ocean ear motifs, created to complement the Ocean set, and a Ludo bracelet from 1934, from the Van Cleef & Arpels Collection.
The event was also attended by numerous personalities from the world of arts and culture, as well as major political and media figures. Among the guests were: Hervé Aaron, Valérie Belin, Jean-Pierre de Beaumarchais, Louis Benech, David Caméo, Bernadette Chirac, Bruno Frisoni, François-Joseph Graf, Didier Grumbach, exhibition designers Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku, the founder and director of Shanghai’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Samuel Kung, Karl Lagerfeld, Bernard de La Villardière, Laurent Le Bon, Didier Ludot, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, Thaddaeus Ropac, Philippine de Rothschild, Alain Seban and Hervé Van der Straeten.
“Van Cleef & Arpels, l’Art de la Haute Joaillerie”, from September 20, 2012 to February 10, 2013, at Les Arts Décoratifs, 107 rue de Rivoli 75001 Paris.
Van Cleef & Arpels
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