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Tatler Asia
5 days ago
- Business
- Tatler Asia
What makes Van Cleef & Arpels' creations poetic?
Married in 1895, the pair opened their first boutique in 1906 at 22 Place Vendôme. From that very address, the Van Cleef & Arpels legacy began. The iconic '&' became a symbol of enduring union and the merging of technical mastery with poetic sensibility. From that moment on, love has remained a recurring muse, inspiring designs that have charmed high society and delighted the world's most discerning collectors. Above Photo of the Van Cleef & Arpels store in 1906 (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Mystery Set technique Since 1906, Van Cleef & Arpels has stood as a formidable force in haute joaillerie, with signature collections like Alhambra and Perlée, and emblematic pieces such as the Zip necklace and the Ballerina brooch. See also: Van Cleef & Arpels explores the resurgence of 1980s styles in high jewellery—and how world history has played a part in the maison's designs A defining chapter in the maison's history came with the advent of the Mystery Set, an ingenious technique patented in 1933. It has become an essential element in Van Cleef & Arpels' poetic universe. This groundbreaking method redefined traditional jewellery standards, enabling stones such as rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds to be set seamlessly, with no prongs or visible metal in sight. Above Hummingbird Box 1938, using the Mystery Set technique (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) To let the gemstones shine against an almost imperceptible metal base, artisans employ an intricate grid system crafted from precious metals: rose gold for coloured stones, platinum or white gold for diamonds. Into this lattice, each gem is meticulously slotted via specially designed rails. A diamond saw is then used to carve grooves into the stone's edges. Countless hours of precision cutting go into forming these recesses. The result? A cascade of perfectly aligned gems alive with movement, and varying in shape and dimension. Above Van Cleef & Arpels polishes the rails of a traditional Mystery Set (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Above Mystery Set technical illustration (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) One of the earliest examples of the Mystery Set technique is a brooch completed in 1936, composed of two overlapping botanical forms in gold, platinum, diamonds and rubies. The piece illustrates how the Mystery Set lends itself to sculptural depth, once again expanding the limits of traditional craftsmanship. Photo 1 of 3 Mystery Set brooch from 1936, platinum, gold, rubies and diamonds (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Photo 2 of 3 The Pomme de Pin brooch with Navette Mystery Set technique (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Photo 3 of 3 Jewellers attach rubies to rails (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Decades on, Van Cleef & Arpels continues to breathe fresh life into the Mystery Set technique. Far from a relic, it is an evolving expression of the house's vision one that constantly pursues innovation while challenging the limits of creativity and technical artistry. In 2022, this commitment culminated in the Legend of Diamonds collection, a dazzling series dedicated entirely to the Mystery Set. Every one of the 25 creations reflects the maison's identity, distilled savoir-faire and creative essence. The Mystery Set remains a triumph of enduring elegance where each jewel reveals a mastery of imagination, skilled workmanship and timeless grace. Photo 1 of 3 A 30.61-carat diamond necklace from the Legend of Diamonds collection (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Photo 2 of 3 Draperie Mystérieuse is crafted from white gold, rose gold, emeralds and three pear-shaped diamonds, each weighing just over a carat (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Photo 3 of 3 The Chevron Mystérieux necklace is inspired by 1950s fashion (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Inspired by nature and engaging storytelling Nature has always served as an abundant muse for Van Cleef & Arpels. Across more than a century, the maison has cultivated a reputation for its enchanted jewellery gardens from the delicate Marguerite brooch of 1907 and the frangipani blossoms of the 1930s, to the lyrical botanical scenes found in contemporary collections. The brand's heritage, one might say, feels like a world apart where beauty governs and time is told through petals, branches and bloom. See more: Princess Diana's favourite jewellery: A closer look at her collection of chokers Drawing on the ever-shifting life of flora and fauna, the maison captures movement and metamorphosis—be it in a butterfly's flicker, the hush of a flowering branch or the lush geometry of foliage. To wear Van Cleef & Arpels is to enter a garden of imagination, one filled with colour, light and wonder. From vivid birds to ethereal butterflies, from glistening gemstone dew to exquisitely sculpted petals, every detail is composed with reverence, distilling nature's quiet magic into a form that endures. Through precious materials, the designers and jewellers at Van Cleef & Arpels are storytellers, weaving emotion into each piece with delicate precision. Mythology often informs the maison's narrative vision, with motifs drawn from fairy tales, folklore, and legends. Figures of gods and fairies lend a lyrical elegance, their presence evoking a romantic sensibility and a refined femininity that continues to distinguish the house within the world of haute joaillerie. Photo 1 of 4 Collection inspired by the love story of Romeo and Juliet (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Photo 2 of 4 The Golden Bird piece from the Grimm fairy tale (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Photo 3 of 4 Fée Dragée brooch from the Ballet Précieux collection (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) Photo 4 of 4 Lady Féerie Or Rose watch (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels) If nature is the muse, then colour is the harmony that amplifies its beauty. Van Cleef & Arpels' creations unfold like a luminous promenade through soft hues and vivid shades, pure white, gentle pink, deep crimson, serene blue. There is freshness, but also a quiet lyricism; an elegant interplay of tones that brings each jewel to life, like blooms turning towards the first light of day. Above The multi-coloured palette is the element that resonates with the poetry of Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery (photo: Van Cleef & Arpels)
Sydney Morning Herald
13-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
New laws could mean bad news for Afterpay, Zip users
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) reforms have been a curiously long time coming. First discussed more than 10 years ago, they came into effect last week. And the legislation is, well, interesting. In fact, consumers will still be able to play fast and loose with their future pays. But let's take a step back and look at the changes. Firstly, BNPL providers – the likes of Afterpay, Zip, Humm, Klarna and more – will finally be regulated by the consumer credit code. Previously they fell through the cracks because they don't charge interest – the business model is instead usually to levy penalties for late payments of the typically four after-the-fact repayments of your purchases, and to charge merchants for the ability to allow customers to delay payment. Now, when you apply for a BNPL account, you will have to answer questions about your finances. See the huge loophole in that? It's only new customers. People with existing accounts will not need to requalify. What's more, though providers must from now on ask about income and debts, there's no obligation to verify the information. And where payments are for less than $2000 – which is most of them – not much changes at all. The proliferation of dangerous advance-pay services should be next on the government's crackdown agenda. Even at larger amounts, providers only have to adhere to the vaguely defined 'responsible lending'. A Treasury announcement said the application of this would be 'flexible, adaptable and proportionate to the risk of consumer harm'. Which means that responsible spending – and remember, BNPL allows spending with money you haven't yet earned – will come down to individual responsibility. Critics (I'm one of them) believe the services are often a pathway to further financial issues, particularly in a cost-of-living crisis.
The Age
13-06-2025
- Business
- The Age
New laws could mean bad news for Afterpay, Zip users
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) reforms have been a curiously long time coming. First discussed more than 10 years ago, they came into effect last week. And the legislation is, well, interesting. In fact, consumers will still be able to play fast and loose with their future pays. But let's take a step back and look at the changes. Firstly, BNPL providers – the likes of Afterpay, Zip, Humm, Klarna and more – will finally be regulated by the consumer credit code. Previously they fell through the cracks because they don't charge interest – the business model is instead usually to levy penalties for late payments of the typically four after-the-fact repayments of your purchases, and to charge merchants for the ability to allow customers to delay payment. Now, when you apply for a BNPL account, you will have to answer questions about your finances. See the huge loophole in that? It's only new customers. People with existing accounts will not need to requalify. What's more, though providers must from now on ask about income and debts, there's no obligation to verify the information. And where payments are for less than $2000 – which is most of them – not much changes at all. The proliferation of dangerous advance-pay services should be next on the government's crackdown agenda. Even at larger amounts, providers only have to adhere to the vaguely defined 'responsible lending'. A Treasury announcement said the application of this would be 'flexible, adaptable and proportionate to the risk of consumer harm'. Which means that responsible spending – and remember, BNPL allows spending with money you haven't yet earned – will come down to individual responsibility. Critics (I'm one of them) believe the services are often a pathway to further financial issues, particularly in a cost-of-living crisis.
SBS Australia
12-06-2025
- Business
- SBS Australia
New regulations hit Buy Now, Pay Later providers
For millions of Australians, Buy Now, Pay Later providers like Afterpay or Zip have become a common tool to take the pain out of purchases by breaking the cost of goods or services into smaller chunks paid over several weeks. As of Tuesday the 10th June, strict new regulations from the Albanese government have come into play with Buy Now, Pay Later providers now treated similarly to a credit card. This last change means that your Buy Now, Pay Later debts could impact your credit score and could impact a customer's future borrowing capacity for a house or a car. SBS Filipino 12/06/2025 08:54 📢 Where to Catch SBS Filipino
Business Wire
11-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Zip Unveils Suite of 50 AI Agents to Automate High-Impact Tasks Across Finance, Legal, Procurement, IT, and Security
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Zip, the AI platform for procurement, today unveiled a groundbreaking suite of 50 purpose-built AI agents at its inaugural Zip AI Summit in Brooklyn, New York. Leveraging Zip's agentic AI suite for procurement, companies can now eliminate millions of hours of manual, tedious work currently plaguing every department across the enterprise – from tariff assessments to contract reviews, compliance checks, and more. With this launch, Zip introduces agentic procurement orchestration, a breakthrough new category that automates the entire purchasing process, giving the world's largest organizations a competitive edge in an increasingly volatile and resource-tight global market. 'Zip's approach to agentic AI is going to make global companies more secure, save them millions of hours of laborious work, and generate billions in hard-dollar savings,' said Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder and CEO of Zip. Procurement represents the second-largest spend category after payroll, yet remarkably few organizations have successfully applied AI, leaving trillions of dollars managed through manual, error-prone processes. Zip, which became the first procurement platform to introduce generative AI features back in 2023, has already helped hundreds of global companies streamline purchasing – delivering over 4.6 million actionable AI insights and saving customers billions. Today's launch represents a fundamental leap forward as Zip moves beyond AI-assisted workflows to deploying intelligent agents that autonomously complete entire tasks on their own. 'Today Zip is cutting through the agentic AI hype with AI agents that actually work,' said Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder and CEO of Zip. 'Not vague chatbots. Not generic assistants. Real, specialized AI agents that do one job and do it perfectly. Zip's approach to agentic AI is going to make global companies more secure, save them millions of hours of laborious work, and generate billions in hard-dollar savings.' OpenAI, Canva, Wiz, and Webflow are among the first companies to leverage Zip's groundbreaking AI agents. These and other long-time Zip customers have collaborated closely within the Zip AI Lab – launched during the company's landmark Series D funding round – flagging pain points across the purchasing lifecycle that the platform now addresses autonomously. 'We've worked closely with the Zip team to power their agentic platform and it's been really exciting to see how quickly they've turned real-world procurement pain points into focused AI task agents with our APIs,' said Kathryn Devlin, Head of Procure-to-Pay Operations, Travel and Expense at OpenAI. 'As part of our overall collaboration, we're excited to be among the first to integrate their AI agents to help manage spending and drive efficiency across the organization.' Zip's Agentic AI Suite at a Glance Zip's suite of 50+ AI agents enables customers to automate complex procurement tasks, including: AI Agent Builder: Provides an easy, no-code platform to build, customize, deploy and train AI agents. Tariff Analysis Agent: Dynamically assesses the impact of global trade policies on vendor pricing, helping companies navigate complex international procurement landscapes. Competitive Research Agent: Surfaces vendor alternatives and market rates to inform smarter, more strategic sourcing decisions. RFP Generation Agent: Drafts tailored Request for Proposal documents based on specific purchase requirements, dramatically reducing manual preparation time. DORA Assessment Agent: Screens vendors for DORA exposure and surfaces red flags for legal and procurement. GDPR Compliance Agent: Flags potential privacy risks in vendor documents, ensuring regulatory compliance. ESG Profile Agent: Identifies and evaluates ethical and sustainability concerns in potential supplier relationships. 'We live in a world where procurement leaders need to utilize AI for our advantage, and Zip's approach to agentic AI does exactly that,' said Idan Cohen, Technology Procurement at Wiz. 'We'll save so much time on the technical work and day-to-day tasks that we need to do as part of the procurement process, and be enabled to really focus on what we're supposed to do – being a true partner to the business and to our vendors.' "Zip created an entirely new category of procurement applications, so it is appropriate to see them pressing forward and launching a suite of AI Agents, plus an AI Agent builder, that will drive efficiency, compliance and, ultimately, savings. Shaped by input from many of their hundreds of clients, Zip is providing a pathway to the future of procurement. We can't wait to see Zip Agents in action," said Patrick Reymann, Research Director, Procurement and Enterprise Applications, IDC. For more information or to request a demo, visit About Zip Zip is the world's leading agentic procurement orchestration platform, empowering businesses to accelerate the procurement process, mitigate risk, and drive growth by offering a single front door to unify the teams, tasks, and tools involved in working with suppliers. With Zip, businesses can maximize employee adoption of purchasing policies and increase spend visibility and control. As the leading solution for optimizing business spend, Zip's AI-powered platform is trusted by hundreds of leading enterprises worldwide, including AMD, Anthropic, Coinbase, Discover, Dollar Tree, HP, Instacart, Invesco, Lyft, Northwestern Mutual, Prudential, Reddit, Sephora, and Snowflake to maximize the ROI of every dollar. To learn more, visit
