Chopard’s President Caroline Scheufele On How The Brand Is Now Part Of Her DNA

How much of chopard is in your DNA?
My father thought that it was more important for me to learn how to read time rather than my A-B-Cs…so that says a lot! My very first design was done while I was in school; I was 16 years old and it was a jewellery piece for the brand — the Happy Diamond Clown.

How would you define the Chopard woman?
She is very versatile. When people ask me what inspires the red-carpet creations, I always say ‘the women of the world’. There are so many different personalities that come to Cannes from different countries and of different ages, skin tones, shapes…. They don’t have the same tastes, and that’s exciting to me.

How have your Happy Diamonds creations evolved?
We make sure that the collections are constantly developing. One that is extremely popular is Happy Hearts, and this year we’ve presented Happy Ocean, a very playful diving and sports watch which sort of replaces another very successful model — Happy Fish. I think that the Happy Diamonds concept in itself is so appealing, in that it’s a moving diamond which can go anywhere…there are so many possibilities!

Tell us about Chopard’s Fairmined initiatives and plans for the future.
We’ve presented a collection called Pure, which is a rejuvenated version of our classic 1990s’ Ice Cube range. In keeping with our quest to present sustainable luxury, it is made completely from Fairmined certified gold. It’s the first time something like this is going out to all our boutiques, because we were restricted earlier with the availability of the gold, but with more and more mines being certified, we can stand expanding these initiatives.

What’s the most important thing that you’ve learned during your time in the industry?
You always have to be a step ahead — set trends rather than follow them. When I designed the Happy Sport, it was a steel watch with diamonds inside, and everyone said, ‘This is crazy, you cannot put diamonds inside the watch’. But I did it anyway and it’s part of the brand DNA now. I’ve learnt not to look at what others are doing. I do, however, look at and find inspiration in architecture, fashion, nature and different cultures on my travels.