MAGIC CARPET Chopard creative director Caroline Scheufele talks film and fine jewellery.
Chopard co-president and creative director Caroline Scheufele talks film and fine jewellery with Alice Birrell.
Alice Birrell: Chopard produces a haute joaillerie collection for the red carpet every year and is also a partner of the Cannes International Film Festival. When and what was your starting point for 2016? Caroline Scheufele: “The red carpet collection is an ongoing process. As we speak we are already working on 2017. The inspiration is different actresses from all over the world who are obviously all very different in nationality, in skin colour, in culture and religion. It is versatile, like the rainbow: you can find delicate and very flamboyant pieces, and also very colourful pieces … we have this new technique using coloured titanium.”
AB: Why did you decide to use titanium?
CS: “Titanium is very light, so we can make these very big, stunning earrings that have no weight to them.”
AB: Knowing a piece is destined for the red carpet, do you keep a particular actress in mind when you’re designing?
CS: “Often we work beforehand with their stylist so that the piece matches the evening gown. It goes both ways. Some actresses are very spontaneous and they only get prepared in Cannes. The Americans, they are much more organised and know exactly what they are going to have for lunch and dinner the next day. It is actually quite boring, I think. They have so many people around them: stylists, a publicist, hairdressers, make-up artists, and everyone gets involved.”
AB: So it’s not always spontaneous?
CS: “No, except sometimes. For example, Sigourney Weaver was supposed to wear a sapphire necklace and when she saw the collection she fell in love with a ruby necklace. So she said: ‘No, no, get me something else to dress in, I am going to wear this necklace.’ That was a bit of a mess for her team, and they said to me: ‘Why did you show her this necklace?’ I said: ‘She wanted to see the collection!’ That wasn’t my fault, but it happens!”
AB: Tell me a little about the link with Hollywood and film. Why is it so important to you personally?
CS: “I have always been a cinema lover. [ With Chopard] it started almost two decades ago when we were opening a boutique opposite the Palais where they have the screenings in Cannes. I met the president at the time and said: ‘Oh, you have partners?’ and he said: ‘Yes, but not jewellery.’ During the conversation I saw the Palme d’Or behind him, and said to him: ‘Maybe I could make it [the Palme d’Or award itself] more glamorous.’ He said yes, so I left with the palme under my arm and here we are 20 years later.”
AB: Is it important for customers to see these pieces up close?
CS: “When you have a beautiful boutique, although it is beautiful, it all comes to life when the jewellery is worn.”
AB: Where do you keep the collection after it is worn on the red carpet? Does it all go into the archives?
CS: “Someone will get fired if they are all in the archives because they are meant to be sold!” Chopard’s new Sydney boutique opens in November. For details on the collection, see www.chopard.com.