When I arrived in Phuket this past February, the air hung heavy with warmth;, the kind that makes time feel slower, more decadent. The Andaman Sea glittered in shifting shades of turquoise and emerald, and the palms swayed as though they too were part of the spectacle. It was here that Van Cleef & Arpels staged the next celebration of its latest High Jewellery collection, Treasure Island, an ode to Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 adventure novel. The setting felt almost preordained – a tropical island infused with myth, nature, and the dream of discovery.
The collection unspools like a story told in three breaths – adventure at sea, exploration of the island, and the treasure hunt. In the first, sailor’s knots, rigging and currents become sculptural codes; in the second,…
