Treasure Island proves that Van Cleef & Arpels still dreams of distant shores
Some jewellery is meant to dazzle, but Van Cleef & Arpels wants to tell you a story. And few maisons understand the emotional pull of a well-spun tale quite like this one. The Parisian house has long alchemised storytelling and craftsmanship, turning fables into fine jewellery with the grace of a master illusionist. Its latest High Jewellery collection, Treasure Island, sets sail into Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 classic with a trove of bejewelled wonder that proves: luxury isn’t just about stones, it’s about the stories we wear.
In this collection, jewellery isn’t just decorative—it’s narrative. A schooner in full sail crests a wave rendered in sapphires; a parrot perches in a canopy of tropical stones; a compass rose glints with mystery in rubies and diamonds. These are more than references. Each piece feels like a relic from the mythos of Treasure Island, imagined down to its most intimate detail. Van Cleef & Arpels isn’t illustrating a story—they’re building an entire visual language from it.
That’s the signature move of the Maison: to take literature seriously enough to reimagine it through gold, enamel, and gemstone. Over the past two decades, Van Cleef has returned again and again to the page—Shakespeare, the Brothers Grimm, Jules Verne—not as surface inspiration, but as structural framework. Treasure Island is the latest in this lineage of narrative collections, and perhaps its most immersive yet.
But as much as it looks outward, to Stevenson’s fiction, to the sea, to distant cultures, Treasure Island is also an inward glance at Van Cleef & Arpels’ own creative history. The collection draws from deep within the maison’s archive: from the early 20th-century Varuna yacht model to mid-century clips, cigarette boxes, and fantastical sea creatures rendered in gold and lacquer. There’s a sense of continuity here, a creative compass always pointed toward the horizon.
It’s also a reflection of Van Cleef’s enduring fascination with exploration—geographic, aesthetic, and cultural. Far-off lands and artistic traditions echo throughout: motifs that evoke East Asian lacquer work, pre-Columbian symbology, and Mediterranean flora all appear, never directly quoted, but subtly referenced. The effect is cumulative, a layered vision of the sea not just as setting, but as symbol—one of wonder, escape, and the unknown.
Still, none of it would land without the craftsmanship. The storytelling is only as strong as the hands that bring it to life. Van Cleef & Arpels’ legendary savoir-faire is on full display here—the kind of technical mastery we explored in our autumn issue with Remix Founder & Publisher Tim Phin’s visit to the atelier. The same meticulous attention seen behind the scenes now takes centre stage: the painstaking Serti Mystérieux (Mystery Set) settings, the precision of enamel work that borders on the painterly, and the seamless choreography between design, stone selection, and fabrication. And for readers who visited the recent exhibition in Sydney, Treasure Island feels like a continuation of that dialogue—a testament to the Maison’s quiet but inimitable excellence.
With Treasure Island, Van Cleef & Arpels continues to define what it means for jewellery to be more than ornamental. While this industry might be increasingly driven by speed and spectacle, the Maison remains committed to a slower, more intentional form of creation—one rooted in research, heritage, and imagination. It’s a reminder that luxury, at its most meaningful, isn’t just about what dazzles. It’s about what endures.
And in this case, what endures is the story. Carefully told, exquisitely made, and always just out of reach—like the best treasures.