Cannes 2022 - A palm of gold set with diamonds on the occasion of the 75th anniversary

A unique golden palm set with diamonds to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the festival:

While the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will open on May 17, Chopard house This anniversary will celebrate a unique golden palm, the Swiss jeweler announces in a press release. The famous trophy, made for 25 years by Chopard, will have two leaflets set with diamonds and deposited on a base of pink quartz.

“” On one of the leaflets, 75 inlaid diamonds will symbolize the festival jubilee, while on the other, 25 diamonds will immortalize the quarter of the partnership with Chopard: a double celebration in unison“Explains the famous house.

The palm, in ethical gold certified 18 -carat yellow Fairmined, will also be fixed not on a rock crystal cushion as of tradition, but on a pink quartz base.

“” In Greek mythology, this powdery pink gem, delicately ribbed, was born from the very hands of Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love“Explains the jeweler. “” The quartz, from the Greek word ‘krustallos’ which means ‘ice’, would be the ice of the gods. The Rose Quartz has been chosen to symbolize the unconditional love that unites the Festival at the Cinema and Chopard and the Festival since 1997. »»

Why and since when is a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival?

Contrary to what we could have thought, the Palme d’Or is much younger than the festival itself. Indeed, from 1946, the date of the creation of the festival, in 1954, the winners received a diploma “Grand Prix of the International Film Festival” and a work of art from a contemporary artist, different each year.

In 1954, the organizers of the festival, wishing to personalize the trophy and give even more radiance to this increasingly important cinematographic event, load several jewelers to design a new trophy, having for reason a palm, to recall the palm, which has existed on the coat of arms of the city of Cannes since the year 990.

Coat of arms of the city of Cannes

It is the designer of Lucienne Lazon jewelry, who will draw the first golden palm of the Cannes Film Festival. His palm leaf is based on a terracotta base produced by the French sculptor Gabriel-Sébastien Simonet, known as Sébastien.

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The old golden palm on a rounded base, in terracotta.

The first golden palm in history will be given in 1955 to American director Delbert Mann for his film Marty.

Subsequently, not unanimous, and for lack of financial means, from 1964 to 1974, the palm was abandoned, and the board of directors returned to the “Festival Grand Prix” with the art diploma formula.

It was not until 1975, that the Palme d’Or will return definitively, and even became the festival logo from the 1980s.

Cannes festival logo with a palm

Over the years, the Palme d’Or will evolve. In the early 1980s, the rounded form of the base which supported the palm gradually turned to become pyramidal in 1984 and in 1992, it became in crystal. The same year, the palm itself will also be modernized.

The Palme d’Or of 1979.

Two golden palms with a pyramidal base.

It was only since 1997 that she has been redesigned by Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, president of Swiss jewelry Chopard, who has been exclusively of her realization, and who offers her at the festival as part of an official partnership each year.

The current golden palm.

From 2000, two miniature versions, called “mini-platforms” are given for interpretation prices and from 2018, these mini-palmes are also given at all prices awarded to the winners of official feature films.

The golden palm and two mini-palmes.

In 2017, for the 70th anniversary of the festival, the precious award will also be set as diamonds. “” The 118 grams of pure gold of this exceptional palm will be dotted with 167 diamonds for a weight of 0.694 carat, such as star dust on the foliage and the stem “Said the Chopard jewelry house.

The 2017 Golden Palme, dotted with diamonds to celebrate the festival’s 70th anniversary.

Designed by a woman, then modernized by another woman, the Palme d’Or was however awarded to women only twice or more precisely once and a half: in 1993 in Jane Campion for the film The piano lessonby sharing it with the Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige who obtained it to Goodbye my concubine and in 2021 to Julia Ducournau for Titanium.

Palme d’Or manufacturing process:

Worth around 20,000 euros, the palm, whose base of the stem has the shape of a heart to remind you that ” Chopard loves cinema »Weighs 118 grams of yellow gold and measures 13.5 centimeters long for 9 centimeters wide. It is worked from an 18 -carat gold ingot (75 % gold and 25 % copper and silver alloy), flowing at 760 ° in a plaster mold where a wax copy was previously placed under the effect of heat but leaves its footprint. The palm is then filled, chopped and polished then fixed with its slightly curved upper and its 19 leaflets carved on a one kilogram in crystal cushion, cut in diamond. For 2022, the crystal is replaced by a pink quartz. The trophy is then placed in a setting in blue morocco. No less than 40 hours of work are necessary for five craftsmen from Maison Chopard to shape the most coveted Treasury in the festival.

Below are some photos to illustrate a few steps in the making of the Golden Palme (Photos Chopard):