One of the world’s finest jewelry brands pops-up at South Coast Plaza
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
Dragonflies seem to float by as reflective glass leaves hanging from lacquered half-circles evoke a forest canopy at VAN CLEEF & ARPELS’ new Costa Mesa pop-up, The Poetry of Time (Oct. 11–27). The leaves, crafted by Basel-based Matteo Gonet and the Salviati workshop in Murano, are strung like beads in lush shades of green, orange, and gold. They tower over rounded glass vitrines containing the Parisian house’s latest watch designs at the intricate South Coast Plaza display. Here are versions of the Ludo Secret, high jewelry timepieces named for a house founder, Louis Arpels, amid tropical flora, hummingbirds, and butterflies. Nearby are watches from the Poetic Complications collection tapping the house’s embrace of the natural world with vibrant enamel flower-filled gardens or diamond pavé celestial skies depicted on watch dials with interchangeable alligator leather bracelets. Throughout the space, lacquered panels in shades of dark green and azure blue, created by Atelier Midavaine alongside gold leaf, reflect light. Walls adorned with architectural embroidery from Studio MTX in Paris play up the Ludo bracelet’s signature brick pattern, also a defining characteristic of the watch design. The evening’s twilight hour seems to be approaching, as birds find places to rest for the night and light reflects off the enamel sapphire crystal on the back of the Lady Arpels Jour Nuit and Lady Jour Nuit watch cases. 3333 Bristol St., South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, 714-545-9500; vancleefarpels.com.
This story originally appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of C Magazine.
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