Nature plays a big role in Van Cleef & Arpels new high jewelry collection, “L’Arche de Noé racontée par Van Cleef & Arpels” for 2016. From the rich tropics to the lush countryside, the French jeweler brings to life various animals that inhabit the earth.

From giraffes to monkeys and parrots, the new collection is one that pays tribute to the animal kingdom with a range of clips and brooches that are reinterpreted in more than 60 variations. The animals come in couples and are decorated in various gemstone, which help to showcase the creativity and savoir-faire that Van Cleef & Arpels is known for.

To present the world with the high jewelry collection, the brand hired Robert Wilson, a famed American set designer to design the scenography of the collection. With Noah’s Ark as the inspiration, the set designer set out to create a concept that is both mesmerizing and representative of the collection. “The concept of staging sixty or so animal pairs in connection with Noah’s Ark originates from a painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder exhibited at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles” explains Nicolas Bos, CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels.

To create the set on which the collection is featured, Robert Wilson imagined a great black box lined with jewel cases that represented the inside of the Ark. As visitors explore the collection, they are taken on a journey that tells the tale of preserving paradise.