The jewelry marketing director at Van Cleef & Arpels is young, well educated, and ambitious. What he thinks about the trail left by the VCA brand in the history of jewelry, and what the Van Cleef & Arpels House expects in the future, Nicolas Bos shared with us during a conversation held during the Art Dubai exhibition at Madinat Jumeirah this spring .
Nicolas, what do you, as a marketing director, think about Van Cleef & Arpels House's place in the history of world jewelry?
At the dawn of the twentieth century, a brand was born that completely changed the world of jewelry. The success of Van Cleef & Arpels has brought stones of exceptional quality, creative inspiration and technical innovation. More than a century of age, the brand is a good reason to talk about its amazing story, which begins like a real fairy tale - with the luxurious wedding of Estelle Arpels, daughter of a gem dealer and sister of two expert gemologists, with Alfred van Cleef, son of a diamond dealer from Amsterdam.
Then, at the beginning of the twentieth century, during the brilliant time of technological progress and the flourishing of the arts, the outfit of a wealthy woman was not considered complete without an impressive set of jewelry. It is only natural that Alfred van Cleef entered into an alliance with his brother-in-law. Combining their professionalism in trade and jewelry, in 1906 they opened the Van Cleef & Arpels store in Paris at Place Vendome, 22. Success was not long in coming. The international expansion of the brand began in the 1930s: first, towards South America and the USA, and in the 1970s, the brand spread its influence to Asia. It was a great breakthrough. And today, Van Cleef & Arpels House is the benchmark for fine jewelry.
What is the secret of such success? Is it all about unique artistic images, technologies for fixing stones or, as they say now, competent marketing?
And in that, and in another, and, of course, in the third. Two people played a special role in the development of the brand: Rene Puissan, daughter of Alfred van Cleef, who headed the company's art department from 1926 to 19
42 years old, and outstanding designer ReneSim Lacaz. During the years of their cooperation, they chose natural objects as the main source of inspiration. Transparent dragonflies, colorful butterflies and unfading flowers carried the subtlest shades of feelings, caught in a network of elegant stylized lines. The style of the brand was finally established after a revolutionary innovation - the invisible fastening of stones, which was developed in 1933 and was called Mystery Setting. The magic technique of invisible fastening was available only to the most skilled jewelers. It helps to emphasize the radiance of stones that are suitable for this processing method. These are, first of all, rubies, sapphires and rather fragile emeralds, later diamonds were also included in the list.
As for marketing, the calculation of the House was based on wealthy representatives of high society who were offered completely unique gizmos, such as, for example, the Minaudiere handbag, a pocket travel bag decorated with precious materials. This elegant reticule contained everything a woman from high society needed: a watch, lipstick, powder box, mouthpiece, lornet, bonbonniere and notebook.
In 1938, the VCA got the Passe-Partout jewelry, the idea of which was repeated more than once in the following years: it could be turned into a necklace, bracelet and even a belt. Closer to our time is the Envol necklace from the 2004 Dream of a Summer Night collection. It is decorated with two removable details in the form of butterflies: one of exquisite diamond lace, the second - lined with rubies on an invisible stitch. The Ruban necklace, part of the 2004 Couture collection, demonstrates the degree of flexibility that requires incredible jewelry. Modern technology has allowed the release of a new version of the Zip necklace with diamonds and precious stones, originally created in 1954 for the Duchess of Windsor. Now it is possible to install a functional zipper in it.
Van Cleef & Arpels jewelery is known to use the highest quality stones. How carefully are their selection conducted, and where are they purchased?
All the immortal creations of Van Cleef & Arpels are made possible by the supply of carefully selected stones from the best sources in the world. In fact, our jewelry house accepts only 0.5% of precious and semi-precious stones submitted by suppliers for consideration. The quality of all materials is so high that our craftsmen can put together in one piece a semi-precious stone such as topaz and some rare precious stone, for example, yellow or pink diamond. Among the most exceptional stones are 114 carat Neela Ranee sapphire (“Blue Princess”), purchased in 1956 in India by Claude and Pierre Arpels. This sapphire later became part of the necklace ordered by Florence Gould.
Today it has become much more difficult to find stones of exceptional quality, but nevertheless, we manage to acquire specimens that are unique in their characteristics. We cannot compromise, because Van Cleef & Arpels is also a synonym for outstanding quality jewelry.
At the Art Dubai exhibition in the Van Cleef & Arpels pavilion, a jewelry designer who specially came to the UAE from Paris worked. How many people work in the company today?
Today, more than 70 craftsmen work in the Van Cleef & Arpels studio near a Paris boutique. In addition to specialists who are usually present in the state of the jewelry workshop, there is also a master who makes models of future products. These are peculiar
Three-dimensional sketches are the next step after drawings on paper. Van Cleef & Arpels is the only company at Place Vendome that makes such models of tin alloy and crystal. The model gives a good idea of how the decoration will look, and allows you to eliminate the latest technical and aesthetic flaws of the project. When the model is approved by management, jewelers begin to make the base jewelry made of gold or platinum. Then the workshop’s cutters prepare the stones for fastening - everything except diamonds, which because of their hardness require a special apparatus.
Which products from the Van Cleef & Arpels collections, created over more than a century of history, seem to you the most expressive and directly associated with the Van Cleef & Arpels House?
I would say that the most outstanding jewelry is the Dragonfly Fairy brooch made of rubies, emeralds, pink diamonds and diamonds in a platinum frame. It was made in New York in 1944 by order of Barbara Hatton, wife of Keri Grant, Prince Mdivani and Igor Trubetskoy. Amazing and graceful fairy became the mascot of the House of Van Cleef & Arpels. Since then, it has been repeated in various variations, and it has always been popular with fans of the brand. So, in one of the latest collections, she adorns the watch dial, and also crowns a bottle of signature perfumes from Van Cleef & Arpels. I would also like to note the Ballet collection, inspired by the famous Parisian Russian seasons of Sergey Diaghilev. And finally, a platinum tiara with 17 pear-shaped diamonds, diamonds of classical cut and navette cut. This diadem can be worn like a necklace. It was commissioned by Grace Kelly in 1976. The Princess of Monaco put her on the marriage of her daughter Carolina with Philippe Junho in 1978. It was from this that the friendship of Van Cleef & Arpels with the Principality of Monaco began. In 1956, the House fulfilled the first large order for the manufacture of jewelry for the wedding of Princess Grace herself and was proclaimed the "official supplier" of the princely court.
What are the new marketing strategies for Van Cleef & Arpels and how promising do you think the Russian market is?
In 2006, by the centenary of the House, we opened many new branded boutiques around the world, including in the largest cities of Russia and the CIS. Historically, Van Cleef & Arpels products were acquired by wealthy Russians, and today the Russian market seems to us very promising. I believe that despite the global recession, the true admirers of Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry have not diminished. We receive many orders from our regular customers, including members of royal families, cinema and sports stars, and we monitor the dynamics of sales of new collections in different countries. So far, the results are very impressive. In the future, we are interested in the Far East - China, Hong Kong, as well as the expansion of the boutique network in the countries of the Middle East. Maybe for some time we will observe the situation and will not open new stores, but I have no doubt that, thanks to the creativity and dedication of the company’s employees, our jewelry house will splendor for more than a century.
Thanks, Nicolas. Until we meet again.
