PARIS — Van Cleef & Arpels last week reopened its flagship on the Place Vendôme here, culminating a year of centenary celebrations for the Richemont-owned brand.
And just as with each new collection it has issued over the last 12 months (there were three high jewelry collections alone), Van Cleef positioned the renovated boutique as a statement about how it wants to develop its DNA.
“We wanted the shop to have a soul, just like we do with the rocks that we set,” said Stanislas de Quercize, president and chief executive officer. “We wanted it to express classicism and modernity. It’s an indication of where we want to take the brand in the 21st century.”
Designed by French interior wiz Patrick Jouin, the 3,500-square-foot space sits in the historical nerve center of the high jewelry trade here and is flanked by the likes of Boucheron and Chanel. The Ritz Hotel is just across the street.
Shoppers enter to discover a soaring two-story circular opening, a dangling Murano chandelier and a curving wall in silver carved with Art Deco-style flowers.
The shop’s wood-paneled walls were intricately carved with garlands, fairies and insects, while other walls, in plaster, were molded with a similar motif.
“A flagship should promote a unique emotion,” said Quercize, stating that the shop’s concept would be limited to this one location. “It should have its own soul.”
The insect theme — dragonflies and butterflies traditionally are counted among the house’s perennial design references — is carried over into the tan carpet, into which insect forms have been impressed.
Jouin designed all of the display cases and furniture in white wood and stainless steel, including columnar glass display cases. More remarkable, though, are the oversized framed-in cases with fairylike mannequins wearing evening gowns and Van Cleef baubles.
Quercize said the house would ask couturiers to make dresses for the windows in the future but declined to provide further details.
“It’s part of making a glamorous, feminine atmosphere,” Quercize said, noting that the house has a long tradition of creating pieces with couture references, such as lace and bows.
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While the main selling space is a series of interconnected rooms, offering costly high jewelry to more access pieces, the most precious jewels will be unveiled in a luxurious private viewing room.
Another of the store’s unique features is the “vintage” boutique, which is contiguous to the main shop. In that small space, visitors will be able to make appointments with Van Cleef’s head of patrimony, Catherine Cariou, to buy antique Van Cleef pieces or to have their Van Cleef bijoux appraised and bought back by the company.
It also will have exhibits of vintage pieces, with the first dedicated to bejeweled evening bags and other intricate evening paraphernalia, including a pill box created in 1944 for the Duchess of Windsor.
Quercize said workers from the atelier would be available once a week for consultation in the vintage shop, as well.
“Clients can meet with the atelier to make their own pieces,” he explained. “It’s like saying to them, ‘Let’s dream together.'”
A party to inaugurate the store is planned for Jan. 23, during the Paris couture. Meanwhile, there is no shortage of fetes in store, Quercize said.
On Christmas Eve, for example, he said he would inaugurate the store’s private dining room, which overlooks the picturesque square and its famous soaring column, with a caviar and Champagne brunch for clients.
“Creativity is timeless,” he said. “How many houses have been around for a hundred years? Now we’re ready to fete the beginning of the second centenary.”