The Queen of Kalahari – the most precious jewellery set ever produced by Chopard

Lara Mansour   |   18-02-2017

An ultra-rare 342-carat diamond provides the stones for the most precious jewellery set ever produced by Chopard

Caroline-Scheufele-4

Caroline Scheufele

A brief history

The discovery of The Queen of Kalahari, this exceptional 342-carat stone of perfect colour and absolute purity, has given rise to a set of 23 diamonds – The Garden of Kalahari – of which five weigh over 20 carats. Drawing upon the virtuosity cultivated in the field of artistic craft that has forged Chopard’s reputation, six fabulous pieces of jewellery have emerged from the High Jewellery workshops of the Maison.

As a pioneer of sustainable development in jewellery, co-president Caroline Scheufele actively encouraged the Karowe mine to join the growing number of Chopard’s suppliers, to engage with Eco-Age’s independent Green Carpet Challenge validation criteria, which mirrors best international practices in environmental and social justice.   

Discovery of a treasure 

‘I immediately sensed that this was an incredibly rare gem of exceptional beauty and purity,’ says Caroline Scheufele when recalling her first encounter with the diamond she named The Queen of Kalahari. It was at the heart of the deposit mined in Karowe, Botswana, that this exceptional stone was found. Born of the volcanic rock known as kimberlite, formed at high temperatures and pressures across endless ages, this diamond enshrines a sense of permanence and the strength of the ties that bind human beings to the earth.

342 carats, an eloquent figure testifying to an extremely rare size for a diamond of such absolute purity and perfect colour. The Queen of Kalahari combines D colour, with grade F clarity.

Making-of-1

‘The energy and emotional charge emanating from this gem are truly incomparable,’ enthuses Caroline Scheufele, who immediately travelled to the open-air Karowe mine to admire this diamond discovered a year ago. It was love at first sight. Since then, she has personally supervised each stage in its development, like a lucky star guiding it towards its luminous interpretations and thereby giving rise to the most prestigious jewellery ever to emerge from the Chopard High Jewellery workshops.

The Garden of Kalahari

A natural-born visionary, Caroline Scheufele is the creative soul of the Maison Chopard. Around these five stones, she has built a daring and dancing network of poetic and metaphorical symbols. Through her eyes, the radiant 50-carat brilliant cut becomes a sunflower, the 26-carat heart shape a delicate pansy, and the 25-carat pear shape a majestic banana blossom. As for the perfect 20-carat cushion cut, it indulges in a gentle tête-à-tête with the flaming poppy, while the 21-carat emerald cut floats idly alongside a water lily. These five diamonds are the masterworks among the 23 diamonds composing The Garden of Kalahari – the set of diamonds cut from The Queen of Kalahari. It is around these stones that an extraordinary collection of six jewellery models has been dreamed up.

Making-of-25

The jewels born from the Garden of Kalahari

The Garden of Kalahari necklace testifies to the ingenuity and the playful spirit governing Chopard design. This model is playfully interpreted in four variations, the first of which is a gorgeous and supremely modern choker to be worn alone. An entirely invisible mechanism means it can be detached in the centre and adorned with an exquisite flower to form a more sophisticated version. And for festive evenings, this flower itself serves to attach three majestically beautiful pendants, since they are adorned with the three biggest diamonds in The Garden of Kalahari, the 50-carat brilliant-cut, 26-carat heart-shaped and 25-carat pear-shaped gems.  Each of these precious ‘attachments’ can be worn alone or together, culminating in the perfect necklace with all three at once.

And because Chopard loves to combine beauty with fanciful touches, two of these pendants – the heart-shaped and pear-shaped diamonds, can be worn attached to the earrings, thus creating a spectacular set matching the necklace, adorned (or not) with the flower and the brilliant-cut diamond. The earrings can also be worn without the heart and pear shaped diamonds, for a more discreet version.

This collection is further enriched by a cuff bracelet adorned with two emerald-cut diamonds, two rings of which one bears the 20-carat cushion-cut diamond, and of course an astonishing secret watch that is as delicate by nature as it was to create.