Headline, August10, 2013

'''VAN CLEEF & ARPELS : 

THE GREAT MASTER JEWELLERS'​''

This famous Parisian Jeweller deserves its place in the luxury pantheon.

Van Cleef & Arpels is one of a handful of great Jewellers with which all civilized men and women have a duty to become familiar. And it is just not about being able to buy them for the women in your life. I was recently tempted by a pair of white gold clou de Paris collar stiffeners   -hardly essential, but that didn't stop me from wanting them.

And when it comes to watches, this Place Vendome jeweller has devised entertaining jeux d'espirit, such as a watch that shows the ever-changing panorama of the night sky over Paris. In many peoples view and mythology, it is the jeweller by appointment to the Seventies private jet-set -a time when a private jet-set was just that.

It is hard to think of a woman who could resist a man bearing Van Cleef & Arpels. Certainly any good time monarch of the 20th century liked to treat his womanfolk to a bit of VCA. Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, garlanded his Duchess in it.; Prince Rainier made Van Cleef the official jeweller to Monacco; while the Shah of Iran got the house to put together a set of crown jewels.Van Cleef also managed to make some of the great casual jewellery of the disco era. 

The world recession is leaving its prints all over But Van Cleef Arpels is no stranger to crises. Stanisles de Quercize likes a good crises. In fact, in almost Nietzchean fashion, he too thrives on them. As CEO and President of Van Cleef Arpels, he reels of the various crises that have engulfed the company and how it has emerged stronger. The first that lives on the memory is WW1 during which Mr Arpels :

Met a Jeweller in the trenches whose family is still working for the firm four generations later. During the Great Depression, Van Ceelf & Arpels patented its  ''mystery setting''  for gems, which has since become its lapidary signature, whereby precious stones seem to hang without any visible support on object. The third was the rise of Nazism.

This acclaimed the establishment of the Van Cleef's American arm. which celebrated its 70th birthday some years ago. And during the evenements of the Paris Spring of 1968, while France seemed to disintegrate, the house came out with the Alhambra line, which remains a bestseller to this very day.

And so, in a virtuoso display of optimism that would have impressed Voltaire's Dr Pangloss, de Quercize concludes that the current crises is good for Van Cleef & Arpels. He maybe right, but its not purely for its recession busting governance that this famous Parisian deserves its place in the luxury Pantheon.

Class Is Permanent And The World's Most Enduring Jeweller. Van Cleef Arpels, Continues To Delight, Shine And Shimmer!

Nothing matters to the soul more, but those beautiful needy, demanding and alluring sighs of the bewitched and the enchanted.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Ireland. See Ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless : ''Something To Sing About.''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless