Restoring a golden touch
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Jewelry from VCA's contemporary Perlee collection revives the gold beading craft. |
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| Street snaps of China |
The motif recalls the Moorish architecture of Islamic Spain in the Alhambra, a palace and walled city in Granada. At its launch, the original designs were of sautoirs (long necklaces) in yellow-gold peppered with the quatrefoil motifs set in gold beading or a plain, linear border.
The necklaces quickly became a beacon of privilege and were most identified with Grace Kelly, who owned them in malachite, coral and lapis lazuli. Throughout its existence as one of VCA's most popular and emblematic collections, the distinctive four-leaf clover shape is filled with various precious materials, such as a rare, finely grained letterwood from South America; chalcedony from Namibia; carnelian and onyx from Brazil; lapis lazuli from Afghanistan; malachite and tiger's eye from Australia; mother of pearl from Indonesia and Japan; turquoise from the Americas; and of course, top-quality diamonds.
Today, lucky clients have the choice of settings and chains in white, yellow and pink gold.
The current Alhambra collection has evolved into several interpretations - namely, Vintage, which is true to the 1968 style; Alhambra, where the motifs are bordered in plain gold; Magic, where motifs are made in different sizes and placed asymmetrically on chains; Byzantine, which renders open work or solid motifs in gold; Lucky, where other symbols of luck, namely leaves, butterflies, hearts and stars, are combined with the clover motif; and Sweet, which are miniatures of contemporary symbols of luck from the Lucky group.
In the Perlee collection, which launched in 2008, instead of having charms hanging from a chain, the motifs lie on a ribbon of gold edged with gold beads.
The beading effect also recalls the Couscous collection inspired by an Arpels voyage toMorocco. The piece de resistance of that collection was the Marguerite watch made in 1949 with a completely flexible wristband of gold beads and rubies.
Both collections bear the same high standards and attention to detail that has earned VCA its reputation for excellence.
