For more than two decades, Chopard has played a central role in the world of cinema through its collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival
Chopard’s co-president and artistic director Caroline Scheufele says she has always had a passion for cinema. But it was only in the late Nineties that she was presented with the opportunity to combine her love for film with her occupation—creating beautiful, precious objects.
Visiting the office of the Cannes Film Festival’s then director, Pierre Viot, in 1997, she was struck by how “unglamorous” the original Palme d’Or trophy was. “I asked whether I might have the opportunity to redesign it,” Scheufele explains. “Pierre said, ‘Of course, young lady!’ My family thought I was mad to take on such a challenge.”
The design of the Palme d’Or is inspired by the palm trees that line Cannes’ famous seafront boulevard, the Croisette, and by the palm leaf central to the city’s coat of arms. In rethinking the award, Scheufele says, “I had to respect the palm motif and the number of fronds on the stem, because the festival’s logo was already copyrighted around the world, but apart from that I was free to do as I pleased.”
At the closing ceremony of the festival in 1998, Scheufele’s new and improved Palme d’Or made its debut.“I gave the palm volume, made it three-dimensional, brought it to life and placed it atop a rock crystal cut like a diamond,” she says. Her design remains unaltered to this day.