How Van Cleef & Arpels brings the romance of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet to its high jewellery

Nicolas Bos, president and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, says: “Shakespeare’s masterpiece acts as the starting point for a new thematic collection, and also provides a dialogue between high jewellery, dance, music and the visual arts.”

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The lovers themselves, the famous balcony, the gardens and the architecture of beautiful Verona, even the colours of the warring families, are brought into play.

The famous couple become three-dimensional delights as clips in white gold, rose gold, yellow gold, black lacquer, rubies, coloured sapphires, spessartite garnets, lapis lazuli, white and yellow diamonds. Emerald foliage drips from a diamond balcony to form the Balcone clip, which wonderfully depicts Romeo and Juliet in rose gold on the back. Mystery-set rubies and diamonds recreate ancient ramparts in the Merli bracelet.

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Many of the pieces have their own secrets. The Verona long necklace transforms into a short necklace and a bracelet, or two bracelets with a clip. In white gold and blue gems, its centrepiece is a Burmese emerald-cut sapphire of 23.86ct. The Giardino necklace of sapphire beads with a carved Colombian emerald of 81.07ct can be reconfigured six ways.

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