Zip design can be worn as a necklace or zipped up tighter and worn as a bracelet. New York City’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, will host a Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition of more than 300 works of jewelry, timepieces and accessories from the famed Atelier that was founded in 1896. The exhibition, “Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels,” will open at the museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian that focuses on contemporary and historic design, on Feb. 18 and will run through June 5.
The exhibition will l focus on the establishment of Van Cleef & Arpels in New York, where the brand opened its first boutique in 1942, and will showcase some of the brand’s most important technical innovations, including its renowned “Mystery Setting.” The exhibit will be sequenced into an “Innovation” section, a “Transformation” section, that will showcase objects that transform themselves into other objects, and a “Nature” and “Exoticism” segment respectively, with highlights of the brand’s stylized designs inspired by nature, Egypt, India, China and Japan.
In the remaining exhibition areas, “Fashion” will include jeweled evening bags, cuff links and other accessories, while “Personalities” will concentrate on Van Cleef designs worn by a variety of trendsetting women. Objects on view will include Grace Kelly’s engagement set, plus a tiara worn by the actress and princess of Monaco; an amethyst, coral and diamond jewelry suite owned by Elizabeth Taylor; a bracelet and necklace owned by Eva Peron, and much more. For more information, visit www.CooperHewitt.org.