Spring in New York conjures crowds, the smell of roasted nuts, blooming mosses and hydrangeas near Central Park, and much more. That seasonal energy is the inspiration behind Van Cleef & Arpels’s third annual sidewalk install, “Fifth Avenue Blooms,” which runs between May 1 to 31 in partnership with the Fifth Avenue Association. Paris-based artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet has conceptualized a multidimensional “unfolding garden” for the celebration. Between 50th and 59th Streets—sandwiching the Van Cleef & Arpels flagship—the avenue has become a respite inspired by florals and “architectural garden details such as railings, carved stone planters from the 19th century, and beautiful alleys,” Navet tells AD.
“It is an ode to nature’s wonders,” he elaborates. “I selected a fresh and vibrant palette to celebrate spring in New York.” The resulting floral boxes and benches (a beautiful blur of minty greens, sunny yellows, and sky blues) offer a different kind of garden: something impressionist, rendered, and built on the brand’s artistic ethos, which Navet knows from the ground up.
Beginning in 2020, Navet’s lively trompe l’oeil illustrations were transformed into decor for every major Van Cleef & Arpels flagship. Applying his multidisciplinary practice to the house’s longtime infatuation with florals, what emerged were multiple boutique façades informed by oil pastels, Japanese watercolor techniques, and pencil drawings. For this “Fifth Avenue Blooms” install, Navet tried expanding his technique to “paper cuts and collages,” he explains. On one part of the avenue, a wavy blue-green bench—that people can actually perch on—is surrounded by six-foot flowers. It sits in front of a Gothic church, bringing the idea of rebirth into springy actuality. When asked about what’s inspiring him at the moment, Navet emphasizes that his “new studio is now in the middle of a forest, so [his] connection with nature, flowers, and trees is far from over.”
A selection of these floral structures will come to life through animation, immersive sound, and nighttime illumination. And apart from the physical installation, for the first three weekends of May, the famed jewelry house has organized poetry readings, live painting, dance performances and other cultural events at 550 Madison Avenue. Here, as well as at the Plaza and Peninsula Hotels, Navet’s springtime fantasy blooms beyond the Fifth Avenue soil. This is in alignment with Van Cleef & Arpels’s brand values, which are committed to supporting muse-worthy artistic sectors such as design, heritage protection, and the decorative arts.
