STYLE Edit: Van Cleef & Arpels’ Alhambra shines brightly thanks to a collaboration with Korean artistic director Younghee Suh

Feb 10 , 2021

Younghee Suh created a series of images showcasing Van Cleef & Arpels’ Alhambra collection. Photo: VCA

The luxury jewellery brand’s guilloché craftsmanship is highlighted by Suh’s elegant aesthetic, inspired by Korea’s monochromatic trend

Suh also created images for VCA’s L’Arche de Noé collection in 2018 and the Heritage collection in 2019

Any jewellery collector worth their salt will be intimately familiar with Van Cleef & Arpels’ Alhambra collection. The dainty four-leaf clover motif edged in delicate gold beading is immediately identifiable, and has become synonymous with polished elegance. Created by skilled craftsmen in Van Cleef & Arpels’ ateliers, the collection is always rendered with impeccable craftsmanship, down to every line of guilloché and tiny gold bead.

To pay tribute to its gold craft, Van Cleef & Arpels has worked with Korean artistic director Younghee Suh to create a series of photographs highlighting the maison’s sterling savoir faire.

Van Cleef & Arpels collaborated with Younghee Suh. Photo: VCA

Suh is a long-time collaborator with Van Cleef & Arpels, having created numerous beautiful images for the maison’s high jewellery collections in previous years, including the L’Arche de Noé collection in 2018 and the Heritage collection in 2019. Suh’s style, which usually employs traditional Korean artistic techniques in some way, is always eminently refined and graceful, making her the perfect collaborator for the French maison.

This collaboration is no different. Suh chose to use traditional Korean hanji paper, dotted with gold and pleated with precision folds.

“For this series on guilloché, I was inspired by the monochromatic style of art that is trendy in Korea,” says Suh. “Artist Lee Ufan, the master of this art, is known for using countless dots or dotted lines on hanji. Symbolising the relationship between space and time, these motifs reminded me of the guilloché pattern.”

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Younghee Suh incorporated Korean hanji paper, taking inspiration from guilloché. Photo: VCA

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