Caroline Scheufele, Chopard’s co-president and artistic director, says it was her mother, Karin, who came up with the name for the Happy Diamonds collection. “She said, ‘When people are free, they’re happy. When diamonds are free, they’re happy.’ That’s where the name comes from.”
Chopard is as much about encouraging joyous self-expression as celebrating the freedom of its signature swirling diamonds.
“I was always fascinated by these moving diamonds,” says Caroline, who admits she is “in awe” of incredible gems, and respectful of their source in nature. “Definitely the most beautiful ones come from Africa, at least the big ones. They stand out, even in my career.”
The Queen of the Kalahari diamond sourced from the heart of a deposit mined in Botswana, and Insofu, the second-largest emerald discovered at the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia, are two of the best known Chopard finds. No matter how magnificent they might seem, rough or cut, when selecting gems, Caroline says she is sensitive to their energy. “Sometimes my team says, ‘Why do you not buy that?’ And I say, “Tsk, it’s not speaking to me.”
This article first appeared in the 2022 annual special edition of YourLuxury Africa.
