For Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard and Chopard’s co-president and artistic director Caroline Scheufele, sustainability and luxury go hand in hand.
It all started at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival when the French timepiece and jewellery house announced its multi-year commitment to honouring the earth and the lives of the miners and artisans they work with. “I believe that when you have something unique and special—and I have the pleasure and honour of working with the most beautiful gemstones on our planet and of course gold which is one of our key materials—you must use it for the best,” says Scheufele, reflecting on that decision made seven years ago.
The launch of the Journey to Sustainable Luxury project was marked with the unveiling of Chopard’s first annual Green Carpet Collection, featuring a delicate cuff bracelet and matching earrings made from sustainably sourced gold and diamonds, worn on the red carpet by Cotillard, a long-time friend of the brand. “When I saw the first examples of models made with ethical gold, it was very moving,” Cotillard recalls. “I saw it as a door opening onto to something different, involving more awareness about these crucial issues.”
With a shared passion for protecting the environment and those working at the beginning of the supply chain, Cotillard and Scheufele have continued to pave the way for sustainable luxury with their creative friendship. Cotillard has walked the red-carpet countless times in Chopard, and in 2015, she lent her keen eye for elegance to the brand and collaborated with Scheufele on the design of a one-of-a-kind jewellery piece for the Green Carpet Collection, sourced from a family-owned Aurora mine in remote Australia. Here, Cotillard can be seen wearing the ethically sourced 2017 Ice Cube Collection, and she appeared again in Chopard’s campaign this year.
As a noted environmentalist herself, having acted as a spokesperson for Greenpeace on various occasions, Cotillard can’t help but admire the work that Chopard continues to do, ensuring that no children work in the mines they source from, that they honour the earth when extracting gold, and that the miners have a fixed salary and safe conditions. “This sets a very strong and important example, by telling the world that luxury can be fair and responsible,” she says.
