The New Van Cleef & Arpels Boutique in Hong Kong is an Ode to the City’s Singular Landscape
Paris-based Studio Manku continues its long partnership with the Maison, creating a space that privileges light, serenity and artisanal touches
When Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku of Jouin Manku were tasked with designing the new Van Cleef & Arpels space in Hong Kong, it was the city’s unique geography that inspired their vision. Nestled between ocean, mountains and forests, its ever-so-modern built environment coexisting with nature, the city lent the perfect inspiration for the French Maison’s flagship boutique.
The Paris-based design studio has been designing Van Cleef & Arpels boutiques around the world for two decades. Their approach, as they describe it, consists of immersing themselves in each city and drawing inspiration from what surprises, moves or entrances them. From Paris to Tokyo, New York to Miami, every space is an encounter between the Maison’s poetic world and their understanding of the city.
In 2011, the studio designed the first Van Cleef & Arpels boutique in Asia, also in Hong Kong — an intimate space whose iconic glass-tube facade illuminated the Landmark Prince’s Building in Central. Fifteen years later, the architects reimagined it as a new 564-square-metre, two-storey Maison in nearby Alexandra House.
‘Hong Kong vibrates in a very specific way that no other place has for us,’ explains Manku. ‘There’s this beautiful landscape in the middle of the sea, this relationship with nature — the trees, the water, the mountains. And then you have human ambitions, these beautiful skyscrapers somehow attached to the edge of this cliffside. It's a really beautiful relationship, because most people crush nature or choose one or the other. In Hong Kong, the two seem to live in harmony, to be in symbiosis. This DNA is what we wanted to express in the Maison.’
This is first echoed in the facade, whose light-toned stone evokes the surrounding nature and whose textured glass openings create a ‘rain of light’ effect, aided by large white plaster petals created by English artisans. With all elements taken together, the facade both echoes the natural, airy quality of Hong Kong and becomes one with the city lights, particularly in the evenings when the entire expansive space is visible from the street and pedestrian walkways.
Inside, the designers created a second facade — this one of tonal wood — inspired by the traditional passages of their Paris home, giving visitors a tranquil welcome. But what strikes first about the boutique is its heart: a circular space clad in oak and dressed in warm, earthy tones, wrapped around a majestic circular staircase of limestone and oak, and built in continuity with its voluptuous curves. Elegant glass display cases showcasing jewellery creations punctuate the space and, nestled in the staircase’s embrace, an islet of greenery and flowers echoes the green vegetal motif that envelops the space. Above, a play of lines draws the eye towards a handcrafted, flower-patterned ceiling décor that softly filters the interior lighting. For the designers, this room was intended as the core of the boutique, both physically and conceptually.
‘This wood rotunda acts as the centre, the anchor of everything. The greenery is both an inspiration for the Maison’s creations and another level of detailing, of colour and form,’ says Manku. ‘This ensemble forms our own little version of the Peak in the centre of the Maison. If you ask me, it’s really the most glorious backdrop for the jewellery of Van Cleef & Arpels. The two resonate so well together; they speak to each other, and you understand a little bit of the fantastic world the jewellery is coming from.’
Adjoining the room, a dedicated gallery space swathed in soft beige hues hosts rotating exhibitions paying homage to the Maison’s history and savoir-faire. The opening display, Welcome to Van Cleef & Arpels’ Universe, celebrates the Maison’s most emblematic creations and the stories behind them, with exclusive heritage pieces from the patrimonial Collection. Adjoining the boutique’s public spaces, a series of salons welcomes guests into more private settings.
‘I think the interaction you have with somebody is greatly affected by the intimacy of the space,’ says Manku. ‘So, we were really sensitive to maintaining intimacy. It's not an open plan; we’re subdividing it into smaller spaces, each with its own proportions and great for a conversation of four people. It puts you in your own private bubble within this larger space.’
Each with a distinct atmosphere, the salons can accommodate a wide range of events and occasions. A space destined to host tea ceremonies is clad in rose-coloured stone crafted in collaboration with L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewellery Arts in Hong Kong; another features a showstopping hand-embroidered ceiling with an organic, swirling motif.
Upstairs, an elongated fragrance salon continues the tonal palette, with a luminous aura and graceful, sensuous layers that call to mind the Maison’s emblematic Place Vendôme boutique. Voluptuous wall alcoves inspired by traditional perfume organs each highlight a fragrance from the Maison’s Collection Extraordinaire. At the end of the room, an olfactory space of layered glass and textile softly reveals a painted vegetal decoration adorned with gold leaves.
Also on the upper level, a space dedicated to watchmaking evokes Van Cleef & Arpels’ poetic watchmaking philosophy inspired by the world of dreams and emotions. Shades of midnight blue, beige and wood tones evoke grace and enchantment. A plaster motif in the centre of the ceiling, echoed on the floor, recalls the Maison’s iconic guilloche creations.
The overall effect is enchanting for any visitor, and even for those just passing by. ‘We wanted to create a little moment of poetry in your day,’ says Manku. ‘When you're in your busy day and you have a million things to do, the last thing you normally think about is a poetic moment, but something happens when you’re there. You scratch your head, or you just slow down for a second. We can try to explain it, but I think you just feel something.’
Images by Jimi Chiu
