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Photo: Chopard
Every year, Chopard never fails to surprise with its unconventional, delightful take on high-shine baubles.
While the Red Carpet Collection is specially designed to grace the silhouettes of celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival each May, the house artistic director and co-president Caroline Scheufele never fails to tap into the fantasy world of the women (or men) her creations adorn. This time, the collection is themed Contes de Fees, or fairy tales in French.
Renowned for her wildly imaginative Animal World collection dating back to 2010, Scheufele has once again taken inspiration from the rich tapestry of our childhood stories, and reinvented them into precious characters from enchanted forests and magical realms.
Techniques meet timelessness
Elevating the 77 exquisite creations are not just the finest gemstones nor Chopard’s ethical gold, but the bold use of titanium. While the metal is light, durable, and corrosion/tarnish-resistant, it does not bend or break easily, which makes it much harder to manipulate in elaborate high jewellery-making.
Chopard Contes de Fees Oak necklace (Photo: Chopard)
Regardless, Chopard has been favouring featherweight titanium in its creations for its unique ability to be tinted in a multitude of shades through anodisation. This high-tech approach allows for the creation of larger, more intricate designs that would be impossible with heavier metals like gold. The colour vibrancy achievable with titanium is also at the forefront of material innovation.
Case in point: The Contes de Fees Oak necklace, which symbolises strength and power. Crafted from ethical rose gold and titanium, this sculptural masterpiece is adorned with a myriad small animals, insects, and birds. Taking six months of four craftsmen’s time, it features titanium leaves set with tsavorites, flowers with yellow briolette-cut sapphires, and tinted titanium acorns.
The making of the Lily of the Valley brooch (Photo: Chopard)
Magical powers
Under the mighty oak tree, beloved as a sanctuary for our woodland creatures big and small, other storybook characters emerge to play.
Sprouting from the ground is a rose gold mushroom ring that dazzles with a cap set with white, orange, cognac, and brown diamonds. Two emerald-set titanium frogs hug a yellow gold ring crowned with a majestic rubellite and diamonds. Just a few steps away is a titanium Lily of the Valley brooch, adorned with diamond-set flowers and tiny yellow gold pistils.
Dancing in the air are butterflies, realised as white gold earrings, flaunting pear-shaped aquamarines and a mesmerising gradient of blue, pastel and pink sapphires, topazes, aquamarines, emeralds, and brilliant-cut diamonds. The butterflies seem to be flitting around a multi-hued sautoir necklace that showcases a floral pendant made of rubellites, tsavorites, and coloured diamonds nestled within a clear rock crystal. Encircling the pendant are nine individually crafted titanium flowers, each set with tiny pearls evoking morning dew.
The Fairy tiara adorned with mother-of-pearl and diamonds (Photo: Chopard)
And what is a fairy tale-based collection without its protagonist? A delicate fairy with mother-of-pearl wings makes an appearance on a spectacular diamond stars-and-droplets tiara, and can be worn as a brooch by itself. On another pair of oak leaf earrings crafted with titanium and tsavorites, bejewelled fairies unveil themselves atop cognac diamond-encrusted acorns.
The fact that all gold featured in Chopard’s creations are Fairmined-certified ethical gold makes this collection truly a nature lover’s dream come true.
