Van Cleef & Arpels' new creations for the winter symbolise rebirth, beauty, and completion
Three elegant lotus creations join the Diamond Breeze collection, but the simplicity of their design belie several hidden intricacies.
The Lotus is not normally a flower one associates with the winter. But despite its delicate appearance, the lotus is a surprisingly hardy plant, able to weather the winter and begin growing again in the spring, an apt metaphor as we close out another trying year — and a fitting motif for French jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels' latest creations. We review all three creations, and the ethereal campaign shot by award-winning photographer Erik Madigan Heck.
The three flowers on the earrings appear to barely graze each other, creating an illusion of being suspended in mid-air; the Maison's expert craftsmen called on several complex setting techniques to achieve the look.
Heck — who appeared on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2011 — has called himself "a painter who uses photography", and nowhere is that more evident than in his works for the Diamond Breeze campaign. There, Heck envisions an immemorial winter landscape flecked with statuesque birch trees, ruby red winter berries, and, of course, Van Cleef & Arpels' lustrous creations.