The JOY of BEADS

Van Cleef & Arpels enchants the spirit anew with these new iterations from its signature Perlée collection.

- By TAN SIOK HOON

The Perlée collection may have made its debut in 2008, but its defining golden beads hark back to the 1920s, when they first shone as a decorative effect, design accent or border of a stone on Van Cleef & Arpels designs.

“The very idea of Perlée is to showcase the golden bead, a Van Cleef & Arpels motif that has become emblematic. It has its origins in granulation, which is probably one of the most ancient jewellery techniques, dating back to Ancient Greece or even earlier. Golden beads have been a decorative element since 1948 with the Couscous and Bagatelle creations. They have adorned the Alhambra collection since its birth in 1968 as well. In the Perlée creations, the golden bead is somewhat elevated from being an accessory to a central element. Its round form injects joy and dynamism into the pieces. The Perlée collection adds a playful depiction of geometry to the world of Van Cleef & Arpels,” says Nicolas Bos, Richemont Group CEO and former Van Cleef & Arpels CEO, in a press release statement.

Evolving across the decades, these precious spheres embellished the Maison’s humorous clips, as well as its fluid and flexible silhouettes of the 1960s, before being incarnated as braids in the Twist collection, alongside coral, turquoise and cultured pearls. In 1968, the Alhambra collection famously adopted the beads to accompany Van Cleef & Arpels’ iconic symbols of luck as a delicate golden contour.

As the leading star and anchor motif of the Perlée collection, the Maison’s illustrious and enduring golden beads have been on a transformative journey. Today, they continue to inject a joyful and lively spirit into the Maison’s diverse design renditions: Perlée pearls of gold, Perlée couleurs, Perlée diamonds, Perlée clovers and Perlée signature lines, as well as watches of precious and sparkling elegance.

A GILDED HYMN