Écrin

Place Vendôme · Paris, since 1965

dinh van

Jean Dinh Van left the Cartier workshops to make jewels for every day: square rings, clasps worn as the ornament, gold hung from a cord. The hand is a sculptor's. A lock, a pair of handcuffs, a cube around a diamond, a hammered disc of 24-carat gold, each pared back until only the gesture is left.

Founded by Jean Dinh Van. Ideas from €950. dinh van site

Le Cube Diamant open ring in yellow gold: two small open cubes, each holding a diamond, facing each other, on a white ground.
Image © dinh van

Le Cube Diamant

1971 From €990
Menottes dinh van bracelet: two interlocking yellow-gold half-rings on a knotted black cord, on a white ground.
Image © dinh van

Menottes dinh van

1976 From €950
Serrure bangle in brushed yellow gold: a slim open band whose flattened end forms a keyhole-shaped clasp, on a white ground.
Image © dinh van

Serrure

1975 From €3,200
Pi pendant: a hand-hammered disc of 24-carat yellow gold with a central hole, on a white ground.
Image © dinh van

Pi

1991 From €2,500

The conversation

dinh van answering

  • Zip

    Menottes dinh van after Zip, Van Cleef & Arpels

    A quarter century after the Zip turned a working fastener into a necklace, Menottes made the clasp the whole jewel.

  • Monete

    Pi after Monete, Bulgari

    Where Bulgari set ancient coins whole, Dinh Van hammered a new disc of pure gold after the bi of ancient China.

  • The Tiffany Setting engagement ring: a round brilliant diamond held by six prongs on a platinum band engraved Tiffany & Co., on a white ground.

    Le Cube Diamant after The Tiffany Setting, Tiffany & Co.

    Dinh Van keeps the single round diamond but holds it inside an open gold cube, the circle set against the square.

Answered by other houses

  • Tiffany Lock bangle in 18k yellow gold, medium, its padlock-shaped clasp at the top, on a white ground.

    Tiffany Lock, Tiffany & Co. after Menottes dinh van

    Where Menottes hooked two half-rings like handcuffs, Tiffany Lock stretches a padlock shackle round the wrist.

Inside the house

  • Menottes dinh van bracelet: two interlocking yellow-gold half-rings on a knotted black cord, on a white ground.

    Menottes dinh van after Serrure

    A year after the lock-clasp bangle, Jean Dinh Van let the fastening take over: two half-rings hooked like handcuffs.