Two Must-read Books After Paris High Jewelry

If you’re looking for a broad understanding of how the house born from the marriage of Estelle Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef became a Place Vendôme powerhouse or want to dive into a stone with an electric blue hue that was discovered a mere 40 years ago, look no further than these two tomes showcased during Paris’ high jewelry presentations.

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“The Van Cleef & Arpels Collection, 1906-1953”
748 pages, 220 euros

Consider this richly illustrated volume the object that best represents the stated mission of Van Cleef & Arpels’ L’École, School for Jewelry Art educational arm.

“Beyond books, publications or exhibitions that are more temporary or organized with specific museums, we want to truly create a frame that would not only detail the entire collection but put it in context of the maison’s history as well as the history of art and decorative arts,” said incumbent chief executive officer Nicolas Bos , who now serves as CEO of parent company Richemont.

Covering three chapters in the French jeweler’s history, the book explores how its creativity bloomed between 1906 and 1925, how its identity emerged in the following decade and how the brand expanded from Paris between 1938 and 1953.

With more than 700 precious objects, including jewelry and watches as well as documents, this is an in-depth primer ahead of its next high jewelry collection, slated for later this year.

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For those who want that kind of information at their fingertips rather than on their shelves, fear not.

“Because we live in a different century, and we want also all that knowledge to be as accessible and open as possible, we also developed [this] as an online source that is completely free to access so that everybody can find the information,” Bos said.

“Paraiba: The Legacy of a Color”
196 pages, $125
Published by Dazzling Books

In this definitive tome with a foreword from industry veteran Stanislas de Quercize, jewelry expert and journalist Katerina Perez and gemologist Kevin Ferreira, the scion of a gemstone mining family, unpack the short history of this stone and the many houses who have been drawn to its electric blue hue.

Although the original veins discovered in 1989 in the Paraìba state of Brazil are exhausted, stones with similar colors and chemical properties were found in Mozambique, allowing the stone to continue as a sought-after rarity, exemplified by the designs of Chanel, Chopard, Moussaieff or Taffin featured within.

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