The establishment story of Van Cleef and Arpels is no less than a beautiful fairy tale. Thus goes the real story. Alfred Van Cleef, a specialized in cutting gem stone jeweler, fell in love with Estelle Arpels and got married in 1896. Her father was a diamond merchant. Their marriage gave birth to a world renowned jewelry business.
Alfred and Estelle were Dutch. They knew very well they needed to reach Paris if they wanted to exploit their talent to the fullest in jewelry business. Thus they started jewelry business in a small shop on the rue Drouet. Gradually as their business caught up, then they moved to posh quarters on the place Vendome.Soon Estelle’s brothers, Julian, Charles, and Louis brought their skills to the firm. The company established another boutique in Nice. Eventually Van Cleef & Arpels had stores in New York and London. Now the company has stores all over the world.
Immediately Estelle’s siblings joined them to expand the business. Now Van Cleef & Arpels was house hold name .Everyone knew about Van Cleef and Arpels. Soon gained carved a niche in the market as a house of cutting gemstones. The designs became smash hit among the jewelry lovers. Van Cleef and Arpel jewelries had theme based designs either from story or from nature. So mostly they were in shape of butterflies and dragon flies. The four leaf clover became famous as a symbol of good luck.
Van Cleef & Arpel's Innovations
Van Cleef & Arpel’s innovations include the minaudière and the mystery setting. The minaudière is a small vanity case made of hard materials. This was supposed to have been inspired by Florence Jay Gould, the wife of the railway magnate. She used to put her small items into a Lucky Strikes metal tin. Specialties of Van Cleef and Arpel are the creation of the minaudière a hard vanity case, mystery setting and the watch. All these had a superb setting. In mystery setting the gemstones look as if they are floating. First watch was designed by them inspired by the Duchess of Windsor and a padlock with an exceptional clasp. Fairy Watch is also another creation of Van Cleef and Arpel.. This uses a fairy wand to tell the hours and a fairy’s wings to tell the minutes. All of the company’s watches are exquisite. Van Cleef and Arpels has been pampered by Hollywood stars and business tycoons!
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