It has become a not-to-be-missed event featuring a line-up of new jewellery pieces corresponding to the venerable film festival’s edition number. This creative and technical challenge results in a collection rolled out each year in constantly reinvented forms, brilliantly illustrating Caroline Scheufele’s love for cinema and for the Cannes Film Festival.
Around the world, in every culture and at every stage in life, fairy tales are part of our collective imagination. These fabulous stories, often based on popular folklore, invite us to daydream and fling open the doors of our imagination. Enchanted forests, faraway kingdoms, talking animals, fantastic creatures with magical powers: these are the kind of childhood reminiscences that have inspired Chopard’s Co-President and Artistic Director Caroline Scheufele to create a brilliant and highly personal interpretation. In the fanciful world of Chopard’s ’Contes de Fées’, wonderment rubs shoulders with the majesty of enchanted Nature. A world composed of 77 one-of-a-kind creations, enhanced by the talent of passionate artisans.
Over the years, Chopard has paid tribute to the animal and plant kingdoms, demonstrating a remarkable talent for highlighting life in all its manifestations. Embodying a subtle blend of realism and fantasy, the creations in the Red Carpet Collection 2024 testify to this exceptional expertise.
Witness a sculptural necklace inspired by a majestic oak tree symbolizing strength and power as well as hosting a multitude of small animals, insects and birds – a tale in itself. This interlacing of ethical rose gold and titanium, offering a spectacular technical interpretation of a design entirely executed by hand, took six months of work and the intervention of four jewellers and gemsetters. The result mingles titanium leaves set with tsavorites; ravishing flowers featuring clusters of flamboyant yellow briolette-cut sapphires; along with sculpted and then tinted titanium acorns.
At its foot grows an enchanting mushroom ring in ethical rose gold. Its delicate, finely ribbed cap is entirely set with white, orange, cognac and brown diamonds, skillfully arranged in a cut and color gradient.
At its side is a titanium sprig of lily of the valley, with its delightful diamond-set bell-shaped flowers and tiny yellow ethical gold pistils, designed to be worn as a brooch. Several years ago, driven by a desire to give free rein to its creativity while pushing the envelope in terms of technical constraints, Chopard opted for titanium. Rarely used in traditional jewellery, this metal features two extremely useful characteristics. Its extreme lightness means it can be used to design pieces that would be impossible to make in gold because of their size and weight. In addition, its ability to be tinted in a multitude of colors by anodization means it can stand alone or disappear beneath the finest gemsetting, taking on the color of the stones it surrounds, much like a chameleon.
In an ode to plant life, a long multicolored sautoir necklace appears adorned with a highly creative pendant. A flower of rubellites, tsavorites and coloured diamonds blossoms at the heart of a pristine rock crystal. Surrounding the crystal are nine individually hand-crafted titanium flowers. One particularly exquisite detail involves the random micro-setting of the pistils, reinforcing the unique, larger-than-life feel of each bloom. This miniature painting is finished with tiny pearls that evoke morning dew delicately gracing the tsavorite leaves.
Meanwhile, earrings twirl gracefully in the air, borne by two butterflies in ethical white gold set with two pear-shaped aquamarines. Symbolizing a light, carefree spirit, butterflies are foragers that sow the seeds of life and pollinate flowers. They are part of the enchanting world of fairy tales, in which small animals often turn out to be the heroes of great adventures.
A tiny creature emblematic of ’Contes de Fées’ is entrusted with a great responsibility! On the body of a ring in ethical yellow gold, two delightful little frogs in titanium set with pear-shaped emeralds support a crown set with rubellites and white and yellow diamonds. At the centre of this coveted attribute of royalty sits a magnificent 17.7-carat round-cut rubellite.
Finally, she is inseparable from the world of ’Contes de Fées’, believed to have supernatural powers and the ability to influence the world of the living. She is at the centre of an airy, immaculate tiara, surrounded by a shower of stars and diamond droplets. “She” is a ravishing, heavenly fairy who spreads her graceful mother-of-pearl wings. With a wave of her magic wand, she is transformed into a brooch, within reach of a secret that might be whispered in her ear.
A secret that other two mischievous woodland fairies, seated on acorns set in the center of large titanium oak leaf earrings, would be delighted to intercept.
