Le Bijou Dessiné = Designing Jewels

Exhibition at the Ecole des Arts joailliers, Paris, 14 October 2021 - 14 February 2022

Jewellery design has long remained hidden from public view. Whether functional or the bearers of unfulfilled dreams, these paper jewels have nevertheless been the hidden part of the models to which they often gave birth since the 15th century.

This exhibition catalogue presents around one hundred drawings, mainly from the Van Cleef & Arpels Jewellery Culture Fund, dating from the second half of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. For the first time, it sheds light on an unknown part of the decorative arts, in which simple craftsmen and anonymous artists rub shoulders with the great figures of jewellery, Tiffany, Lalique and Vever, as well as renowned workshops such as Paillet, Brédillard and Mellerio-Borgnis.