The story of Caroline Scheufele is one of a little girl with 1000 ideas, an imaginary universe of abstract art and doodles that has given rise to a fairy tale illustrated with 1000 colors, a show with 1000 lights, jewels shining with 1000 fires... Drawing on imaginary journeys and family outings, dreams, passions, aspirations and memories of her childhood, all have nourished Caroline's endless creativity, giving life to the emblematic articulated Happy Clown and overturning the codes of the Maison Chopard through a happy story that takes spectators back to the charm of their own childhoods.

The creative soul of Chopard

Today, the mention of Caroline Scheufele’s name is to evoke the creative soul of Chopard. Passionate about drawing from an early age, and as the worthy descendant/offspring/scion of a family of watchmakers, she created her very first watch from a few sheets of aluminium foil. Caroline was fascinated by the world of the circus, amusing herself on paper by recreating the juggler's balls and the impish joy of the clowns she loved so much by enclosing coloured diamonds in their bellies, jumping and bouncing with every movement. Her father, Karl Scheufele, noticed the drawing and secretly undertook to have the object made by his workshops, which until then had only produced watches. Sceptical about the originality of the jewel yet won over by this fresh and very unusual idea, he gifted the creation to his daughter as a token of his love and in the hope that it would encourage her to join the family business.

From happy diamonds to the first Chopard jewelry

Since then, Caroline has never been parted from it. But the story doesn't end there. Embodying her Joie de Vivre, the pendant also charmed those around her. During a visit to the workshops, a curious customer stopped by the clown and, delighted by this festive character with its irrepressible chic, asked to have the same one. Thus, from this initially one-off creation born of the inventive spirit of a young woman and a father’s affection for his daughter, the best-selling clown and the first piece of jewelry from Maison Chopard emerged. Faced with the influx of requests, a series available for sale was produced and proved an immediate hit. The cheerful clown went on to delight Caroline and generations of young girls, becoming a treasured gift from fathers to their daughters and symbolising this very special relationship. And Encouraged by this daring move, Caroline became the creative soul of Chopard, offering boundless variations over the years on this first creation through a range of jewelry collections.

And so it was that the Happy Clown, whose story testifies to a father’s admiration and love for his daughter, became the creation that most perfectly embodies the spirit of Chopard, the Artisan of Emotions. Little diamonds truly do great things.