Warning: include(../press/Bachi Karkaria meets a Frenchman who retells our mythology through diamonds and chocolate wrappers. If you are born a Van Cleef and have spent your adult years working for Cartier, you would have enough identity crisis for one lifetime. But the high jewellery adviser of the fabled house has also turned his hand to painting. He’s a Frenchman portraying Hindu mythology, a diamond man who depends on Swarovski crystals and silver ‘shokolat’-wrapping paper. Mon Ram! Hey Dieu. How confusing can you get. No one would laugh at these ironies as heartily as the droll Olaf Van Cleef himself. He has invited three of us to dinner at the Taj’s Elephanta Suite, his Mumbai address every time I’ve met him in India since the early 1990s. The opulence begins at the elevator, from where a liveried minion escorts us down the wrought iron corridor of the Heritage wing. Inside, from amidst the storied flower arrangements and Jodhaa-grade brocade, our host emerges in designer bermudas, grinning wickedly. I in /home/olafvancleef/olafvancleef.org/archives/index.php on line 162

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '../press/Bachi Karkaria meets a Frenchman who retells our mythology through diamonds and chocolate wrappers. If you are born a Van Cleef and have spent your adult years working for Cartier, you would have enough identity crisis for one lifetime. But the high jewellery adviser of the fabled house has also turned his hand to painting. He’s a Frenchman portraying Hindu mythology, a diamond man who depends on Swarovski crystals and silver ‘shokolat’-wrapping paper. Mon Ram! Hey Dieu. How confusing can you get. No one would laugh at these ironies as heartily as the droll Olaf Van Cleef himself. He has invited three of us to dinner at the Taj’s Elephanta Suite, his Mumbai address every time I’ve met him in India since the early 1990s. The opulence begins at the elevator, from where a liveried minion escorts us down the wrought iron corridor of the Heritage wing. Inside, from amidst the storied flower arrangements and Jodhaa-grade bro in /home/olafvancleef/olafvancleef.org/archives/index.php on line 162