On the Right Path

As Chopard continues its Journey to Sustainable Luxury, Caroline Scheufele, co-president and artistic director, tells AIR of the maison’s latest ground-breaking project - sourcing gold from Colombian artisanal miners

WORDS: JOHN THATCHER

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It’s difficult to imagine a wider gulf than that which exists between the star-studded ceremony of Hollywood’s annual Oscars and the deep, unstable pits in which children risk their lives to mine gold. What bridged the gap so that the latter became a topic of conversation at the former, was a question posed by Livia Firth, the founder and creative director of Eco Age: “From where do you source your gold?” she asked Caroline Scheufele, co-president and artistic director of Chopard at the 2012 Oscars. “I immediately replied ‘from the banks’,” remembers Scheufele. “But Livia’s question was much deeper and put the spotlight on a humanitarian concern.” Fast forward to 2018 and Chopard had achieved what Scheufele had set out to do following her conversation with Firth - a 100% ethical gold supply chain. “When you learn that there are millions of men, women and children digging up gold from the valleys and hills, often working in unsafe conditions and unable to get a fair price for their work, you’d better do something about it.” states Scheufele. And so, she did. “Personally, I was shocked. From that point, I was determined to embark on a mission to change not only Chopard as a company and brand but also the entire industry.” It was the following year, 2013, that Chopard launched its ongoing in-house programme, The Journey to Sustainable Luxury, committed to responsible sourcing and helping the people in the supply chain who are too often overlooked. “We started by forging a philanthropic relationship with The Alliance for Responsible Mining to directly support and enable gold mining communities to achieve Fairminded Certification (the guarantee of being part of a responsible and conflict-free supply chain) and provide training, social welfare and environmental support. From then on, we created several watch and jewellery lines crafted from responsibly sourced materials, the first being the High Jewellery Green Carpet Collection that we unveiled during the Cannes Film Festival in 2013,” says Scheufele. “In 2018 we reached a special milestone by becoming the first watch and jewellery maison to commit to using 100% ethical gold for the production of all our watch and jewellery pieces.

"I am very proud to be spreading the message that a different, more responsible way of doing business is possible.” As with any great shift in how things are done, there were problems along the way."

“The biggest challenge was the change itself, because people are used to doing things in a certain way. They have a routine and it’s often hard for them to go out of their comfort zones. That was the hardest part; to convince everybody in the workshops. We had to make them understand why we’re doing this because it’s they who have to do the job. It was a challenge indeed, but we obviously proved that we could do it.” Chopard’s Journey to Sustainable Luxury is just that, a journey, which means that along the way new targets are set and milestones reached, unfamiliar destinations explored, and new people encountered. For Chopard, that was the Barequeros. Artisanal gold miners from the region of El Chocó in Colombia, the country’s second-largest gold producing region but also one its poorest, 46 per cent of the Barequeros are women, for whom mining – done so in their traditional way so that no mercury is used, thus protecting the region’s biodiversity – is their lifeblood. “In my town, the majority of inhabitants are artisanal miners, and most of us are women,” says Paola Córdoba, a Barequero. “My whole family works in gold mining, including my mother and my four sisters. Mining in El Chocó is the biggest source of work. It serves for our daily subsistence, for the education of our children, buys our clothes and, above all, it allows us to be free. It is the freedom that is the most important.” To be legally registered, the Barequeros need to obtain a special permit that allows them to produce manually and sell up to 420 grams of gold per year. That gold is now sourced by Chopard, as part of an initiative entered into with the Swiss Better Gold Association (SBGA), which not only means that the Barequeros’ gold is now an important link in a fully traceable and responsible international supply chain, but further ensures that the Barequeros receive both a competitive price and a special SBGA incentive of USD0.70 per gram for them to reinvest into improving their living and working conditions.

To date, five hundred Barequeros have received support from this initiative. As for the process of how the gold passes from Barequero hands through to creating a piece of jewellery, Scheufele outlines: “As a first step, the Barequeros will sell their gold to a Colombian International Gold Trader, a partner in this SBGA project, before being shipped to Switzerland to be processed at our supplier’s refinery. Then, the last step is bringing to life the piece of jewellery and physically making it in our maison. After we have ensured that the raw material is responsibly sourced, the full traceability of our gold supply chain is also ensured through our operating model, based on a closed-loop system, which allows us to recycle our pre-consumer gold scraps or ‘production

When you learn that there are millions of men, women and children digging for gold in unsafe conditions and unable to get a fair price for their work, you’d better do something about it. I am very proud to be spreading the message ‘ that a different, more responsible way of doing business is possible waste’ in our own internal foundry.

To coin an oft used phrase, for the Barequeros the initiative truly is worth its weight in gold “I am so proud to be part of this responsible gold project that recognises the work of artisanal mining, and I thank those buying our gold. It is the fruit of the work of our hands, with each grain of gold the result of a lot of effort and helps to support our families,” enthuses Córdoba. “There are many reasons why the story of the Barequeros resonated with me,” adds Scheufele, reflecting on her maison’s proud work. “And as a woman who strongly believes in supporting other women, learning that almost half of the gold miners in the Barequeros are women impacted me.” In its role with the SBGA, Chopard became the world’s first luxury watch and jewellery maison to directly support mining communities by providing training, social welfare and environmental support. It is the wish of Scheufele that they will not be the last. “While it has not been easy, it is certainly achievable, and at Chopard we will continue our journey with new challenges to build a better future. Apart from us, I truly see a bright future for the luxury industry overall under the banner of sustainability and ethics, so I would love to see everyone else follow suit.

Those ethics Scheufele touches on are an intrinsic part of Chopard, a company founded in 1860 by Louis-Ulysse Chopard. “As a family-run business, ethics have always been an important part of our family values. True luxury comes only when you know the handprint of your supply chain and I am very proud of our gold sourcing programme. As creative director of the brand, I feel it’s important to share the stories behind each beautiful piece with our customers and know they will wear these stories with pride.” And what of those customers. Are clients growing more inquisitive when it comes to sustainability? “We do believe that our clients are becoming more and more aware of the topic of sustainability and want to know how the raw material has been sourced. They also value the journey and stories that are birthed with each bespoke piece,” reveals Scheufele, who believes that using a minimum amount of gold in her designs (as 100% ethical gold is still rare) makes the creations “look even more delicate and refined.” “We have achieved so much so far with our Journey to Sustainable Luxury. It has been a challenging journey so far, but the results are incredible,” adds Scheufele. With the Barequeros only part of the story, we look forward to reading the next chapter in Chopard’s worthy quest.