Le Bijou Dessiné (Designing Jewels)

• Published to accompany and exhibition at the École des arts joailliers, Paris, from 6 October 2021 to February 2022 The design of jewelry has long remained hidden from view and the public. Functional or bearers of unfulfilled dreams, since the fifteenth century these paper jewels have nevertheless been the unrevealed aspect of the models to which they have often given birth. This book presents a hundred drawings, mainly from the Van Cleef & Arpels Fund on Jewellery Culture, ranging from the second half of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. It allows for the first time to shed light on this completely unknown part of the decorative arts, in which anonymous craftsmen or artists rub shoulders with the great figures of jewelry, Tiffany, Lalique, Vever, or renowned workshops such as Paillet, Brédillard and Mellerio. Borgnis. Through the study of its technique, its authors or its use, the book, which accompanies the exhibition at the École des arts joailliers, from October 6, 2021, allows us to grasp the issues such as the richness of this support, both a tool, an archival document and a true work of art. Text in English and French.