Van Cleef & Arpels’ immersive workshops reveal jewellery-making secrets

The world of jewellery is rich in specialist skills, yet the professions behind it are rarely visible to those outside the industry. From stone-setting to polishing, these storied métiers are seldom presented as viable career paths to younger generations, a disconnect that ‘de mains en mains’, an initiative launched by French jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels in 2021, sets out to address.

Now in its sixth edition, ‘de mains en mains’ opens up the broad mix of jewellery crafts to a wider audience. Alongside year-long educational support, the event, held in Lyon, invites students to engage directly with different artistic and technical skills through hands-on workshop sessions.

Central to the initiative is the Parcours des Savoir-faire, an immersive workshop designed to demystify the jewellery-making process. In small groups, students are guided by craftsmen from the maison’s workshops and introduced to the full sequence involved in creating a piece of jewellery. Over the course of the experience, they try their hand at six different professions – jeweller, stone expert, stone-setter, 3D designer, polisher and enameller – gaining insight into each skill, and even making their own Alhambra motif, the brand’s iconic four-leaf clover design created in 1968. Since its launch, the programme has involved 310 of the brand’s employees and welcomed more than 1,500 student participants.

What distinguishes ‘de mains en mains’ is its long-term approach to jewellery education. Throughout the school year, a team of Van Cleef & Arpels experts visit partner schools to deliver presentations embedded into the national curriculum, using jewellery as a lens to explore subjects such as history, mathematics, literature and language. Public-speaking workshops later help students articulate what they have learned, culminating in presentations delivered to families, teachers and Van Cleef & Arpels employees.

The annual Lyon event also opens these worlds to the general public. Visitors can observe craftspeople collaborating on the creation of a Coccinelles clip, a ladybird-shaped jewel that brings together multiple crafts, offering a rare, close-up view of setting, polishing and enamelling. An accompanying exhibition, ‘Les métiers autour d’une création d’exception’, places historical and contemporary jewellery pieces alongside the Naissance de l’Amour automaton, a high jewellery object featuring a Cupid rising from a feathered basket, highlighting the collective effort behind each creation.

The latest edition, held in November 2025 also drew together Van Cleef’s wider educational commitments, including the work of L’École, School of Jewelry Arts, the educational institution established in 2012 with the support of Van Cleef & Arpels, which will present the reconstruction of a Gallic-era necklace discovered in the Tarn region of southern France.

An initiative quite like no other, ‘de mains en mains’ is, at its core, about bringing some much-needed hands-on exposure to jewellery crafts, passing this centuries-old knowledge from one pair of hands to the next.

Van Cleef & Arpels workshops in Lyon are held annually, vancleefarpels.com