Editor’s Note
This article introduces Chopard’s Precious Lace collection, which reinterprets classic high jewelry through a contemporary lens. The pieces are noted for their lightness and craftsmanship, celebrating a distinctly feminine aesthetic.
In the intricate and brilliant sparkle of diamonds, the Precious Lace collection interprets the classic charm of contemporary jewelry. As a signature style piece for Chopard, this jewelry collection is light and agile, lyrically celebrating the gentle temperament of women. It employs designs that embed craftsmanship within nature and exquisite jewelry techniques, highlighting the brand’s distinctive aesthetic imprint, making it instantly recognizable. Inspired by light and immaculate lace, the Precious Lace collection cleverly plays with the interplay of light, shadow, and space. Through complex yet fluid openwork lines, it skillfully combines diamonds with ethically sourced white gold or rose gold, presenting a captivating collision of strength and softness, sharpness and delicacy. The eternal brilliance of diamonds and the ethereal lightness of the lace motif weave a dreamlike encounter between high jewelry and haute couture fashion. This series of jewelry sways with the elegant posture of women, emitting a charming glow, as delicate and smooth as a second skin, fully embodying the values pursued by the French Haute Couture Federation, of which Chopard is a “Jewelry Brand” member.
From day to night, for any occasion, these extraordinary jewelry treasures can add dazzling brilliance to women of any style. The clever design transcends the boundary between fashion jewelry and high jewelry, breaking the traditionally formal and restrained conventions of high jewelry. This spirit of bold breakthrough, much like the collection itself and its exploration of revitalizing classic beauty with a modern perspective, thoroughly reveals the essence of the Chopard brand.
As Co-President and infinitely creative Artistic Director of Chopard, Caroline Scheufele always keenly captures women’s expectations for jewelry and how they wish to wear it. With a profound understanding of women, she continuously creates bold and enchanting pieces that reflect their multifaceted charm in life, also highlighting the lifestyle, fashion attitudes, and value pursuits of contemporary women. She tirelessly endows jewelry with captivating charm and rich expressiveness, aligning with the trends of today’s era. Since taking the creative helm of the jewelry house Chopard in the 1980s, she has never ceased to push boundaries and challenge conventions, infusing high jewelry with a new style of elegance full of ease and vitality. In doing so, she has endowed the jewelry that accompanies women at all times with a different kind of precious significance from a fresh perspective. She also strives to defend the planet, resources (gold materials and gemstones), and humanity through pioneering actions in the field of sustainable luxury. In 2018, Chopard became the first luxury watch and jewelry manufacturer to commit to using 100% ethically sourced gold.
The new jewelry pieces in the Precious Lace collection are meticulously handcrafted in Chopard’s High Jewelry workshops using ethically sourced gold and responsibly mined diamonds, all from suppliers certified by the Responsible Jewellery Council. Through this initiative, Chopard turns its sustainable vision into reality. The Precious Lace collection condenses the refined beauty, classic charm, and exquisite craftsmanship of high jewelry, creating delightful masterpieces that showcase the enchanting charm of contemporary women and are suitable for everyday wear.
This series cleverly presents the intricate patterns, scrollwork, ripples, and scalloped lace of exquisite vintage lace in its design details. As the core theme running through the entire collection, the gold diamond-set scrollwork presents a wave-like rhythmic undulation, encircling and clustering the elegantly spread pear-cut diamonds. Today, Chopard interprets this theme in miniature through four delicate designs. First is “Vague,” reminiscent of splashing waves on the sea’s surface, which has given rise to a pair of earrings, a pendant, and a ring. Next is “Mini-Froufrou,” artistically depicting floral patterns. Petals adorned with scalloped lace and brilliant pear-cut diamonds stand out against a light, openwork background, embellishing rings, earrings, pendants, and slim bracelets. Following this is a similarly styled semi-circular garland, cleverly transformed into the “Nuage” theme’s pendant, necklace, earrings, and ring. Finally, Chopard has also introduced the iconic “Cœur” heart-shaped pendant into the Precious Lace collection, available in two sizes.
The Precious Lace collection playfully presents the sparkle and agility of diamonds, as well as the interplay of form and space. The design theme cleverly plays with the concept of “preciousness,” combining the beauty of gemstones and textiles to interpret the wonderful encounter between high jewelry and haute couture fashion. In the 16th century, the art of lace-making was perfected in Venice and subsequently spread across Europe to Belgium, France, Spain, England, and other places, forming different characteristics and styles. Lace, made with meticulous and skilled handcraftsmanship, was regarded as a fine decorative item used to adorn the collars, cuffs, hats, and frills of aristocratic attire. Thus, lace was endowed with noble qualities, particularly favored by rulers such as Queen Elizabeth I of England during the Renaissance. Like jewelry and gemstones, lace also became a symbol of lofty status and power.
The Precious Lace collection recreates the intricate beauty of handmade lace through the dazzling interplay of pear-cut diamonds and round brilliant-cut diamonds. At every point of openwork detail, different diamond shapes and contours are used to outline a fluid, undulating sense of rhythm, injecting a touch of playful modernity into the overall vintage feel. The delicate beauty of lace is cleverly reproduced through extremely precise fine gold craftsmanship, while the light and slender setting highlights the diamond’s brilliant sparkle, also showcasing the exceptional skill of Chopard’s master artisans. This shares similarities with the exquisite skill of haute couture tailors who deftly maneuver fine needles between their fingers, with both sides upholding the same values: selecting precious materials, meticulous attention to detail, focusing on comfort, and most importantly, harboring a genuine passion for women.