Julien Arpels (1884-1964) was one of the four founding figures of the Paris jewellery house Van Cleef & Arpels. Together with his brothers Charles and Louis Arpels and his brother-in-law Alfred Van Cleef, he established the firm at 22 Place Vendôme in 1906 and helped develop it into one of the four or five most important haute-joaillerie houses of the twentieth century.

Family background

The Arpels family were Dutch-French diamond and gemstone dealers who had been active in the European trade in the late nineteenth century. Their sister Estelle Arpels married Alfred Van Cleef, the son of an Amsterdam diamond cutter, in 1895. The decision by the Arpels brothers to combine their gem-dealing expertise with Alfred Van Cleef's diamond and design background, and to take a shop on Place Vendôme, was the foundational step of the house. Within the partnership, Alfred Van Cleef and Charles Arpels had primary design and creative direction, Louis Arpels managed the Paris boutique, and Julien Arpels was responsible for the firm's gemstone buying and for international expansion.

Role in the firm

Julien's particular contribution was on the buying side. He travelled extensively in India, Burma, Ceylon, Brazil and Colombia in the 1920s and 1930s, buying coloured stones at the source for the firm. Many of the great Burmese rubies, Kashmir sapphires and Colombian emeralds that appear in early and mid-twentieth century Van Cleef pieces passed through Julien's hands. He was also instrumental in the firm's expansion to New York after the Second World War, where he supervised the Fifth Avenue boutique that became the centre of the firm's American business.

The Mystery Setting and the Minaudière

The Arpels brothers were directly involved in the development of two of the firm's signature inventions. The Mystery Setting, patented in 1933, allowed calibrated rubies and sapphires to be set without visible prongs by sliding each stone along a network of grooved gold rails. The Minaudière, patented in 1933 as well, was a small rigid evening case combining lipstick, powder, comb and other personal items in a single jewelled object. Both inventions remained Van Cleef signatures for decades and were heavily promoted in the firm's American marketing in the 1940s and 1950s.

The next generation

Julien's son Claude Arpels and his nephews Pierre and Jacques Arpels carried the firm into the second half of the twentieth century. Pierre Arpels designed the original Pierre Arpels watch in 1949, which remains in production today. Claude Arpels was deeply involved in the New York operations and was a noted gem collector in his own right.

Significance

For the gem and jewellery trade Julien Arpels is significant as the buyer behind a substantial part of Van Cleef & Arpels's twentieth-century stone inventory. His travel patterns, his contacts in Burma, Ceylon and Colombia, and his participation in the firm's American expansion together explain a great deal about why Van Cleef pieces of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s are so often built around exceptional coloured stones. He represents the buyer-and-builder strand of the great Place Vendôme partnerships, the indispensable counterpart to the designer-and-craftsman strand.