ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories: "The Journey" by Chopard To Turn The Red Carpet "Green"

The Cannes Film Festival 2013 marked the start of Chopard's path to sustainable luxury. By putting sustainability at the heart of it's brand, Chopard is set to turn the Red Carpet 'green' with the help of Eco-Age and the Green Carpet Challenge (GCC). Founded by Livia Firth, Eco-Age and GCC will Partner and Guide Chopard on this incredible breakthrough project.

"Where All The Magic Happens!"

Jamie Beck, Ann Street Studio for Chopard

The Story Behind ...

On 17^th May 2013, at the Martinez Hotel in Cannes, the famous sculptor of the Palme d'Or since 1998, Chopard proudly launched ‘The Journey’. The first two stunning new pieces of High Jewellery presented during this event will be worn on the red carpet during the Cannes Film Festival. They are set in Fair Mined gold sourced from the South American community mine we are supporting and with diamonds from approved sources. One of the greatest opportunities for social and environmental change today is the development and delivery of sustainable supply chains. Chopard has recognised this and will be announcing a new multi-year programme. This programme will start with a partnership with the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), the Colombian-based development NGO. The programme aims to transform for the better, the lives of small and artisanal gold miners in South America and protect the natural resources and wildlife they depend on.

Enjoy some wonderful insights and behind the scenes photos taken at the launch of 'The Journey', and the magical soirée held by Chopard on May 20th. Guests boarded the legendary Savarona yacht set amidst the Mediterranean Ocean, overlooking the iconic Côte d'Azur. The evening was full of surprises including a High Jewellery fashion show with dancers, discover the video at the end of this post! Love, Andrea

The Philosophy ...

"In everything we do we have a passion for excellence; our commitment to sustainability is no different. We are proud of our reputation as one of the world’s most prestigious luxury jewellery and watch manufacture and know that to maintain this accolade we need to continually work to improve our standards related to environmental and social issues. We aspire to be known as the premier sustainable luxury brand.

We are at the beginning of our journey that will see us systematically reduce and eradicate the harm to people and planet and to demonstrate that what our customers value in our pieces is matched by positive environmental, social and economic outcomes for those involved in their manufacture.

We call this The Journey and the destination is Sustainable Luxury. Chopard is in a position to demonstrate our commitment and inspire and influence our partners and customers to not only reduce the negative impacts of all our activities on people and nature, but also to contribute building a just, safe and healthy world through our operations and business relationships. Our success is built on our ability to enhance the beauty of natural products and craft pieces that are cherished by our customers for years, and sometimes generations. We consider it our responsibility to protect the natural world that provides the materials that we rely on for our own success, and to ensure the well-being of the people and communities that are essential parts of our supply chain.

From source to boutique, Chopard intends to be the very first in the market to introduce its concept of Sustainable Luxury."

The House of Chopard

"These pieces are made from gold sourced directly from artisanal mining communities in the Andean Gold Belt. Our NGO partner, the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) , works with these remarkable communities to build their capacity to mine gold safely, cleanly and legitimately and to achieve recognition for their efforts through achieving Fairmined certification. Chopard is proud to support these communities in sourcing their gold in responsible manner by providing necessary financial and technical support.

The diamonds in our first Sustainable Luxury pieces are sourced from mines that conform with the high standards of the Responsible Jewellery Council; further demonstration of our commitment to work with our supply chain partners to advance responsible ethical, social and environmental practices, which respect human rights, throughout the diamond and gold jewellery supply chain, from mine to retail.

The Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) is an independent global NGO that advocates equity and wellbeing of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining communities (ASM) throughout the world. These communities account for 80% of the mining workforce and produce 20% of the world’s gold. ARM works closely with ASM organisations, businesses and institutions in the gold supply chain in order to positively transform artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector through standard setting, producer support and communication. The bottom-up approach adopted by ARM also guarantees the new practices are built on local traditional knowledge and will lead to poverty alleviation and locally-based control of the community’s own natural resources. Chopard has joined forces with ARM to support and enable mining communities in Latin America to reach Fair Mined certification, which will provide a stable route to market and a fair deal for the miners and their communities when selling their gold. During the course of this partnership, Chopard will raise consumers’ awareness of the often dismal reality of gold miners in the developing world and to demonstrate how their situation can be changed for the better.

We will directly support activities that improve the lives and help protect the natural resources of communities in Latin America that depend on gold mining. By investing alongside ARM in the formalization of mining organisations and their communities Chopard will create hope for these forgotten communities on the margins of society and helping them to make a legitimate and dignified living. We will regularly report on the progress of our partnership with ARM."

The House of Chopard

Fan Bing Bing, Livia Firth, Marion Cotillard, Caroline Scheufele (Chopard),

Colin Firth and Laura Bailey at "The Journey" Launch

Livia Firth (Eco Age) takes over the Green Style Blog during Cannes to launch her Green Carpet Challenge initiative with Chopard:

"Only a year ago, I would never have dreamt that today I would be in Cannes to launch the first Green Carpet Collection pieces for the high jewellery collection by Chopard. Together, we have created two incredible pieces using Fairmined gold from artisanal community mines in South America.

The pieces are exquisite, and to me, even more precious because they have supported the lives of small-scale gold miners, protecting the natural resources and wildlife they depend on. We all love to invest in beautiful pieces of jewellery as we love to sparkle and by putting sustainability at its heart, Chopard is showing itself to be a leader - a company that truly wants to make a difference to the world of luxury jewellery.

The launch marks the start of a beautiful partnership between Chopard and our company Eco-Age as we strive to create sustainable luxury together. We have called our collaboration "The Journey". It is my pleasure to award these pieces the Green Carpet Challenge brand mark.

By this time next year, who knows? Perhaps more luxury fashion houses will carry the GCC brand mark, joining Chopard and Gucci with beautiful collections, ecological intelligence and sustainable practice."

Livia Firth, Founder of the Green Carpet Collection

A sneak peek at some of the behind photos taken at the launch of The Journey ...

The wonderful Jane Fonda with Colin Firth, Artistic Director and Co-President

of Chopard Caroline Scheufele and Livia Firth at the launch of

The Journey at the Cannes Film Festival 2013

Lisa Gregg from Amex, Colin Firth, Laura Bailey, Marion Cotillard,

Fan Bing Bing and producer Harvey Weinsten at the launch of The Journey,

with Chopard, the Green Carpet Challenge and the Alliance for Responsible Mining.

Chinese actress Fan Bing Bing and the Green Carpet Challenge pieces for Chopard,

made from Fairmined gold and responsibly sourced diamonds

Marion Cotillard wore earrings from Chopard's
new ethical collection "Green Carpet"

The first piece from the new Green Carpet collection were revealed on
the red carpet by the French actress and spearhead of the ethical campaign, who
attended the screening of the film Blood Ties. Wearing DIOR Cruise 2014,
Marion Cotillard wore a cuff from the collection teamed with a pair of delicate,
diamond-studded hoop earrings in 18 carat white gold