Complication Poétique Midnight Planétarium By Van Cleef & Arpels

In 1906, following Arpels’s death, Alfred and two of his brothers-in-law, Salomon and Julien, acquired a space for Van Cleef & Arpels at 22 Place Vendôme, across from the Hôtel Ritz, where Van Cleef & Arpels opened its first boutique shop. Place Vendôme attracted Russian and European aristocrats and American businessmen; it was a symbol of Parisian luxury and the benchmark for international elegance. The third Arpels brother, Louis, soon joined the company.
Van Cleef & Arpels grew quickly, opening boutiques in holiday resorts such as Deauville, Vichy, Le Touquet, Nice, and Monte-Carlo. In 1925, a Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet with red and white roses fashioned from rubies and diamonds won the grand prize at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts.
Alfred and Esther’s daughter, Renée (born Rachel) Puissant, took over the company’s artistic direction in 1926. Puissant had an unbridled imagination, and although she couldn't draw, she had an excellent partner, draftsman René Sim Lacaz. The two led a twenty year wave of innovative and unusual creations.
Van Cleef & Arpels became the first French jewelers to open boutiques in Japan and China. The firm had always been managed by a descendant of the Arpels family until it was acquired by the Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A. in 1999. The company’s prestige stems from a long list of prominent commissions issued by royal and imperial courts, financiers, and industrial magnates, which have enabled Van Cleef & Arpels to be active today not only in Europe and the United States but also in Asia and the Middle East.