The animal collection of Chopard jewelry

12 March 2015 | Esther Ligthart | Brands & Designers

On a beautiful sunny day, where you could just sense that air of excitement in the air of the nearing spring, I went to visit our gorgeous capital; Amsterdam. I took the train and then the tram and got out just in front of the Rijksmuseum. The sunlight managed to make it look even more impressive and feeling all happy, I went for the P.C. Hooftstraat. This street is thé luxury shopping area of not only Amsterdam….

The only high end luxury street in the Netherlands

But I am afraid to say; for the rest of the Netherlands too. This is where you find all the beautiful boutiques with the famous names. The street itself however fails every time to enchant me. It is busy with traffic, narrow and just packed with vans from workmen that always seem to be making so much noise in some building. It does not delight, it does not make you feel like you are in some luxurious heaven, but you want your earplugs whilst you risk your life trying to cross the street every time you see spot a famous brand store sign between one white minivan and another.

Iconic but ...

However…I wanted to enjoy myself whilst heading for another street and going to a jewelry store I planned to visit and admire the clean and beautifully displayed windows. As I passed the famous jewelry brands however, I noticed also how their windows failed to excite me. They were very well done. I mean, I would love to see more jewelers taking care of their windows like that. But it was the merchandise itself perhaps. Every store had their famous bestsellers, their icon pieces in it. Pieces that, as you walk around in this business for a little while, are just all too familiar looking. I wanted to see something new and exciting at Cartier and Bulgari, but no…

Chopard Boutique at the P.C. Hooftstraat

As I walked on I thought to myself that the window displays are there to attract customers that are exactly looking for those recognizable pieces, of course! From a communication and marketing point of view, and I love those two things too :-), it was the best strategy, considering the public that visits this street. As I whistled and walked further (yep, I whistle….hehe) I passed the Chopard Boutique. Same story as the others apart from one ring.

Chopard's animal jewelry

I will tell you more about that ring soon, but it was soooo lovely and surprising that I was just drawn into the store. And as we talked about the ring, Louisa, the beautiful sales person at Chopard, told me that there was that they also had a gorgeous book filled with animal jewelry.

A book like a fairytale

I almost fell of my chair of course, little did she know about my fetish, my immense love for animal jewelry!...and with dignity I replied that I indeed, would love to see it. With permission, I took pictures of some of the pieces in the book. Dazzled by the immense creativity and the daring designs. Necklaces with mice, a squirrel on a necklace, a bracelet with sardines…one even more beautiful than the other.

Photos

Today I just would love to share what I saw, with you. Bear with me, the photos are taken from a book, so the quality is not always great. And I appear to be somewhat of a poor photographer (but we are working on that one!) but I hope you also see what I mean. Even if there are just a handful of people who will be able to afford this….even if you might think how you would never wear a cat on your finger, look at it like the most amazing expression of artistic creativity and technical craftsmanship from heaven. Chopard enchanted me big time....and when my hubby asked me what I would love most I pointed at the donkey and the cat ring, I saw his eye rolling, haha, but come on! They are just too much fun!

I just had a wonderful day and not in the least because of this glimpse at enchanting beauty.