Winter bloom

Van Cleef & Arpels celebrates the early flowering of its art deco jewellery designs with a new exhibition in Tokyo

- HANNAH SILVER

It is 1925, and Paris is in the midst of an art deco love affair.

The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, uniting 15,000 exhibitors from more than 20 countries, is in full swing on the banks of the Seine. The avant-garde showcase of jewellery, art and design is the pinnacle of art deco, championing a movement heavily inspired by African art and defined by a stylised geometry.

For French jewellery house Van Cleef & Arpels, which scooped a Grand Prize for innovative jewellery design, it was a recognition of its mastering of the decorative arts. Marking the event's 100th anniversary, the maison is revisiting this watershed moment with an exhibition held at the former residence of Prince Asaka, now the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The epitome of art deco style, the palace was built in 1933 in Tokyo's Shirokanedai district for Prince and Princess Asaka, who had recently returned from three years in Paris.