“There isn’t any higher method to characterize the celebs at evening. There isn’t any higher method to match the darker colours of sapphires or black onyx. I can not think about that we create jewellery with out diamonds,” says Van Cleef & Arpels President Nicolas Bos. There are few firms daring sufficient to create a single assortment of knickknack minimize from one 910 carat stone. The Van Cleef & Arpels assortment produced from the Lesotho Legend is a surprising testimony to each daring and distinctive craftsmanship.
 

The Lesotho Legend, a singular D coloration, sort 2A tough diamond, is an instance of the best high quality traits attainable. The stone is 910 carats, the fifth largest gem high quality diamond found, and was bought by Van Cleef & Arpels in 2018. The Maison labored with Taché, their long-time diamond seller and Diamcad, a number one Antwerp-based diamond cutter to map out a plan. The consequence was 67 stones minimize from the one tough diamond to the Maison’s exacting specs that honor the traditions of the home’s design.

“There are nearly an infinity of prospects with a tough of that measurement and that high quality.” Nonetheless, for Van Cleef & Arpels, there are traditions that prevail and assist type any plan. “There are specific guidelines, and I might say even obligations, to attempt to maximize using the stone that can produce a very powerful sizes out of the tough. That is often the view of the diamond seller. However in our world of knickknack, what issues is the form and measurement of the diamonds,” explains Mr. Bos. That is executed via 3-D mapping, a expertise united with heritage that yields 67 stones whereas limiting any lack of the valuable diamond. Every stone is of outstanding high quality and ideally suited proportions to encourage the Maison’s designers. “Going too huge for a diamond that’s going to be set on a necklace doesn’t essentially imply one thing to us.” The home sometimes prefers subtle emerald or elegant oval shapes as middle stones and makes use of them to most impact on this assortment. 

The cuts of the diamonds are essential for the Maison’s design workforce as they create items that develop the visible codes of the home and make use of centuries previous savoir faire. Thriller Setting is a trademark of the lineage of Van Cleef & Arpels, a method that permits for gems to be set with out seen prongs. Stones are fitted to the metallic of the Thriller Setting, utilizing a groove dug into the bottom of every gem. The method is so troublesome that solely a handful of specialists are aware about the secrets and techniques. 

The gathering is comprised of 25 Thriller Set Jewels, which every showcase the artistry and chance of the method. The Collerete Mystérieuse is the right instance of this technical virtuosity. “It’s a bit that could be a superb mixture in that assortment of the power and the facility of the white diamonds mixed with the ruby of the thriller setting. But additionally, a component of delicacy, of softness introduced by the design, very impressed by couture.” 
 
 

The necklace includes a 51.18 carat emerald minimize diamond, surrounded by alternating rows of diamonds and rubies, edged with pink sapphires and square-cut diamonds, meant to evoke lace. The necklace fastens on the nape with a chic bow, impressed by one other French custom of Haute Couture style. The middle emerald minimize diamond is an instance of Van Cleef & Arpels’ ardour for proportion in a minimize typically known as the “tennis courtroom.”  This minimize includes a broad rectangular desk (the flat floor of a stone) surrounded by rows of beveled sides on the perimeters and across the pavilion to attain final luminosity. This extraordinary stone might be indifferent to adorn a hoop of equally romantic and trendy sensibility.

The chapters of the Legend of Lesotho took 4 years to put in writing. Nonetheless, Van Cleef & Arpels has been writing these legends from the very starting. The wedding of Estelle Arpels, the daughter of a gemstone service provider, and Alfred Van Cleef, the son of a lapidary (or stonecutter), started an ideal romantic narrative the place the stone is at all times on the coronary heart. The most recent legend written by Nicolas Bos and the outstanding workforce at Van Cleef & Arpels evokes in each its scope and its constancy to the historical past that makes the Maison distinctive.