Luck at Van Cleef & Arpels
“To be lucky, you must believe in luck,” as Jacques Arpels, nephew of Estelle Arpels, liked to say. An avid collector, he would pick four-leaf clovers in the back yard of his house in Germigny-l’Évêque, offering them to his employees along with an English poem, “Don’t Quit.”
Touch Wood advert, circa 1916, Van Cleef & Arpels Archives
Product card of a Clover pendant brooch, 1919, Van Cleef & Arpels Archives
Ladybird clip, 1957, Platinum, yellow gold, coral, diamonds, Van Cleef & Arpels Collection
A value dear to Van Cleef & Arpels, luck has been a perennial guiding light, inspiring some of the Maison’s most iconic creations. Four-leaf clovers first appeared in the archives in 1906, along with a series of pieces portraying wooden talismans, charms and benevolent fairies.
The Maison explores this theme and its associated symbols through lucky motifs and materials. 1968 saw the creation of the first Alhambra long necklace, inspired by the shape of four-leaf clovers, and this iconic motif has since given rise to myriad reinterpretations.
