Blending, art, ethical jewelry-making, and two special events, Chopard created a one-of-a-kind trophy to honor the Cannes Film Festival’s 75th anniversary and its 25th year of creating the festival’s highest prize.
The traditional Palme d’Or received a new design to honor this double anniversary, the company said in a statement. Calling the resulting piece “exceptional,” Chopard’s artistic director and copresident Caroline Scheufele gave the trophy some star treatment of its own, adding 100 diamonds to the stately structure.
The diamonds came from suppliers certified by the Responsible Jewellery Council, Chopard said in a statement. One Palme d’Or leaf received 75 diamonds to symbolize the film festival’s anniversary. Another leaf received 25 diamonds in honor of the silver anniversary between the jewelry company and the festival.
Another change is the base. In previous iterations, the Palme d’Or sits on a rock crystal cushion. This double-anniversary edition has a rose quartz base, a stone that calls out “the unconditional love binding the festival with the cinema as well as that of Chopard with the festival since 1997,” Chopard said in a statement.
“Chopard’s commitment to cinema is the result of a shared vision and long-term collaboration with the organizers of the Cannes festival. In 25 years, I have been privileged to witness special moments in the world of cinema and a lot of emotions,” Scheufele said in a statement.
“For all actors, directors, and other professionals in the film industry, the Cannes Film Festival serves as both a springboard and a career highlight,” Scheufele said. “It is a time of great emotion, an enchanted moment to immerse oneself in a wide variety of works: For 11 days, we are gathered in the enchanting setting of the Bay of Cannes, and yet we take pleasure in being confined inside a cinema to discover films inspired by love and passion, as well as by drama, struggles, and social issues.”
Chopard began making the Palme since that year, when festival president Pierre Viot asked Chopard’s Scheufele to reinvent the trophy, the company said in a statement. The partnership has been a “cherished” one between the two organizations, Chopard said.
Chopard has changed the Palme d’Or two other times. The first was in 2014, when Chopard began using Fairmined-certified ethical gold on the trophy “with respect for people and the environment,” the company said. The second happened five years ago for the festival’s 70th anniversary, when that Palme received a stem and foliage studded with diamonds.
To make this year’s Palme d’Or, Chopard started with a first casting in the “lost wax investment casting technique,” the company said in a statement. The stem and leaves were arranged on a sprue base, blasted in a furnace at 760 degrees Celsius overnight, and filled with molten metal. A jeweler cleaned the surface, polished each of the elements by hand, set the diamonds on the two Palme leaves, and attached it to its rose quartz cushion.
This year’s Cannes festival starts May 17 and continues through May 28.
Top: Chopard revised its Palme d’Or trophy for 2022 with 100 diamonds and a rose quartz base to honor the 75th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival and its 25-year relationship with the famous film event (photos courtesy of Chopard).
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