Fleurs d’Opales is inspired by enchantment and exalted by the artistic crafts. This new capsule collection was painstakingly cultivated by Chopard in Geneva and comprises of six exceptional floral rings featuring the legendary opal.
The first three pieces of the Fleurs d’Opales capsule collection are adorned with the most precious variation of all, the black opal, are unveiled during the Paris Couture Week at the beginning of July.
The result is unique pieces with a design which is testimony to the genius of goldsmithing exercised at its highest level, mirroring the artistic crafts in Haute Couture. The opals used for this exceptional capsule collection are traceable and come from a sustainable supply that complies with ethical and environmental criteria. Chopard is proud to work with the Aurora Gems opal mine, a family-owned business founded in 1962 at the outback of Australia. The Hatcher family at the helm of Aurora manages the mining, polishing and sale of their black opals, without any outsourcing whatsoever, thereby guaranteeing total traceability.
The opal, from stone to exceptional jewel
By turning his opal ring, Gyges became invisible. From the dawn of time, Greek and Roman mythology has represented the opal as a stone considered to have magic powers. From the Middle Ages to the Second Empire, the opal has suffused history with its fiery radiance and has never ceased to nurture its own myths. Powerful and subtle, resplendent and iridescent, the opal fascinates with its own special light that seems to imbue the stone with a life of its own. Its mobile nature, changing colours and elusive reflections have led the opal to be considered a symbol of wholeness, a sacred manifestation.
Chopard has masterfully captured the complexity and power of the opal. The Geneva Manufacture has orchestrated an encounter between this stone with its thousand secrets and contemporary creation. A collection of six rings, resembling vibrant talismans, demonstrate all the dreamy romance that jewellery can convey when shape and material create a perfect alchemist’s blend. During Paris Couture Week, Chopard will raise the curtain for the first act of this collection by revealing the first three creations.
The creations
On the first ring, a spectacular 24.3ct black opal presides in the centre of a titanium latticework of petals, delicately chiselled and set with purple sapphires and amethysts. Tsavorites set with 18ct white gold extend the body of the ring in a vibrant harmony of colour. The second ring plunges the eye into an enchanting blue magic. A 20ct oval opal is exquisitely highlighted by diamond-set pistils and extended by finely veined blue titanium petals, while the body of the ring continues the spell with a harmonious arrangement of tsavorites, lazulites and brown diamonds.
The third creation features an oval 9ct black opal featuring the much sought-after flaming red play-of-colour, resoundingly echoed in the black rhodium-plated white gold pistils set with rubies and purple sapphires. The petals, made of blackened zirconium, are set with pink spinels. The body of the ring in interlaced rose and white gold is set with black diamonds. The petals of each ring are mobile, creating a vibrantly realistic effect.