When Van Cleef & Arpels unveils the 11 one-of-a-kind pieces that make up its Trésor Révélés high jewelry collection this December, its New York atelier of 25 craftspeople will take pride in at least one of those creations.
The atelier, tucked into a 1,300-square-foot space above the Van Cleef flagship at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, is among the few of its kind in Manhattan established by a fine jewelry firm based abroad. Artisans there spent more than 700 hours working through the kinks and producing, assembling and polishing the many pieces that would bring to life the Thirties gouache drawing of the Fox Trot necklace.
The platinum Art Deco design, which can be broken down to form a shorter necklace and two bracelets, sparkles with 55.12 carats of diamonds, including 857 round, 80 baguette, 46 princess-cut and 10 certified emerald-cut stones. The jewels are set in 137 components. When the piece was designed in the Thirties, the lost-wax method used to create those components was not as well developed as it is now and could not provide enough detail and consistency. The Fox Trot is estimated to retail for around $1.75 million.
“When we began making the Fox Trot, we had to research how the pieces were made during that period because we wanted it to be authentic, but have a modern twist, as well,” said Jim Talibon, director of the Van Cleef atelier, whose father was a jeweler in Paris and who began honing his skill as an apprentice over 20 years ago. “Also, because of the length of the necklace, in order to maintain the shape, we had to create special connections to make it flow.”
Talibon said he and his team give each piece that comes through the atelier the same attention, whether it is a design from the Snowflake line — the key collection the atelier produces, which gave the world the diamond bracelet Julia Roberts wore to receive an Oscar in 2001 — or a classic diamond engagement ring.
Van Cleef opened its first New York atelier in 1943, partly as a testament to the importance of the U.S. market to the firm back then, and partly because of the threat World War II posed in Paris, where Van Cleef’s main atelier is based. The New York studio had two locations before moving to its current space in 2001.
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Each piece that comes out of a Van Cleef workshop is stamped with the firm’s signature VC&A emblem. The New York atelier, however, adds the outline of an apple surrounding the A to distinguish its point of origin.
“We try to produce everything here with the utmost quality, which means the work we do can be quite tedious,” said Talibon. “But here we are happy because we are making women happy by creating beautiful things that they can wear and pass down to future generations.”