Chaumet’s CEO Charles Leung Talks Taking First Flights With Jewellery

Slightly more than a month ago, Chaumet showcased a preview of its latest high jewellery collection titled Envol — a French masculine term that translates to “taking flight” — at the Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week. It was a fitting name for a collection that carries not just a sense of freedom, but also spotlights artisanal prowess and the house’s historic relationship with wings, as both a popular symbol of the Belle Époque period and Empress Joséphine’s fondness for birds.

While the house’s history already furnishes more than enough context for such a specific exploration in motif and technique, it underscores just how interesting and how significant “wings” are to jewellery’s growing male audience today. A key figure shaping Chaumet today is its CEO, Charles Leung, who, appointed in 2024, brings a wealth of experience that only reinforces the maison’s prominence in the scene. We speak to the Hong Kong native to see how the house is continuing to transcend this year, as well as how the French DNA of the house continues to manifest in new visions that only elevate Chaumet’s story further, making it more intriguing, inspiring and a stimulus for all to take flight.

Chaumet is defined by lightness and elegance. How would you describe the house in your own words?

Chaumet is a heritage jewellery house rooted in French history, from the coronation of Napoleon to, more recently, representing France at the Osaka Expo 2025 and designing the medals for the Paris Olympics 2024. We carry the weight of translating Parisian good taste and our know-how into jewellery for the past 250 years, and we are committed to carrying it forward for another 250, or more. That’s how we define ourselves. We were also very much related to the royalty in the past. We represent a kind of discretion and good taste, embodying a greatness that people look for and look up to. It’s never something too loud, never something in your face, but more subtle, focused on quality and details. We’re very much inspired and linked to the world of nature as well. It’s quite complex. I’d try to shorten my answer, but it’s true. It’s a good question.

It is a very complex house, and that makes for a good story.

What we have is great. A lot of houses are working to create the stories we have. Although we do also need to do some editing. [Laughs]

Would you say Chaumet is more focused on the past, present or future? Or all of it?

I would say all of it. We cannot ignore the past. That’s where we find who we are. Our past has always been a great source of inspiration and a learning experience for us. When we receive pieces from our customers who ask for restoration, our workshop upstairs is fascinated to see how we used to make jewellery during the evaluation, and we sometimes even get inspired to make our present jewellery, because you sometimes forget what you have done before.

This time, we realised two things the house wanted to bring back. First, there is the theme “wings”, which you have seen here at the archives and with our new high jewellery collection. The other one is the technique of grand feu enamelling. We have been doing that for a long time in this business. But nowadays we see this technique applied more in watchmaking than in jewellery or high jewellery. So we think it’s good to remind ourselves of this heritage and enrich the jewellery we know. So we sometimes look to the past to be inspired for the future. There are a lot of fun things that we try to do. So I cannot define it; we’re not fixated on any point.

Jewellery is not just about craft. It is also about telling the story of life, about people’s personal lives. How does your background and knowledge of literature influence your work at Chaumet?

I’m very interested and fascinated by human stories. But in jewellery, we’re not lacking in stories. There’s always a story behind what we’ve done. Starting with Napoleon asking our founder — as far as we know — to create a tiara with wings in the middle, representing an eagle or Joséphine, in 1810. She kept more than 150 exotic bird species. All of these are inspiring to us, and we love these kinds of stories. It’s very personal. I also learnt quite recently that this story also has specific significance in Europe. A lot of girls receive winged jewels when they get married or become adults to signify the act of leaving the nest. When a little bird first takes flight, it’s an act that takes courage, strength and determination. You might fall, but you try and try, and the moment when the wings first expand to their full wingspan? That’s Chaumet’s wings. We’re not just looking at wings that are pretty in colour. For the past 200 years, Chaumet’s wings have been about capturing the moment we take flight and are determined to go somewhere; to transcend.

That is a beautiful way to contextualise the Envol collection. So what does this collection represent for Chaumet at present?

I think it reinforces our know-how in jewellery, even those we once lost. Bringing back the historical theme of wings also showcases our house in a more unisex and modernised way. There’s also colour, but not any colour. It’s blue. We want people to remember that royal blue is Chaumet.

Men’s relationship with jewellery is also taking flight nowadays. What do you think of this shift?

It’s super great. I believe men did actually wear jewellery a long time ago — sometimes even more so than the ladies — because it represents power, wealth and style. Then we forgot about it for a while. Now, it’s great that it’s coming back. And I think it’s liberating men and allowing them to present a different side of themselves to the world. Nowadays, it’s rare to see stars, singers and actors without jewellery.

Yes, it is strange to see a man without jewellery.

Fashion and jewellery are working more closely together now, and many customers want a total look that cannot exclude jewellery. More and more of our customers are fashion collectors looking to enrich their style with a piece of jewellery, especially one that can last much longer. Fashion comes and goes, but jewellery stays. The other thing is that people are so used to wearing multiple jewellery pieces at once now. You don’t, however, wear multiple items of clothing. However, rings, earrings, bracelets and even watches are ok, although more than one watch can look a bit complicated. But there’s full potential for this exploration in jewellery, for both girls and boys. This is perhaps how more people, including our growing male audience, can find their style in a constantly moving world.

What kind of role do you want Chaumet to play in this changing world, then?

If a man is looking for something that is classy, of excellent quality, tells a story and at the same time has a wow effect without being too loud, I think Chaumet is a very good choice. We have been Napoleon’s choice from the beginning. We can put crowns on kings — we can do it for other men as well. We also make swords, as you know

What advice would you give to men who are discovering jewellery or high jewellery for the first time?

I would say take it step by step. For high jewellery, brooches are always a good place to start. You can tell a story without really imposing something directly. Everybody can see it, and you can be quite comfortable wearing it. And after you’ve tried that, rings and bracelets could be good next step. I’m talking about high jewellery.

I’ve noticed that, for daily wear, a good bracelet usually does the job, though the guys here in Paris seem to like wearing necklaces.

Yes, it invites conversation, and they aren’t afraid of it.

Given your experience across the cultures and trends of Asia and Europe, how do you balance global presence with the preservation of Chaumet’s French DNA?

I think everywhere we go, we try to relay the story of Chaumet, because there’s a reason or experience that leads everything we do. We try not to follow trends too much. We instead try to pay tribute to our past while making it relevant to today’s world. So whether we’re in Tokyo, Seoul, Dubai or London, we try to keep that touch.

So what can we get excited about from Chaumet this year?

Oh, a whole lot. In April, we will have a full launch of the new high jewellery collection. We are introducing new motifs. We will also have some new stores opening. The Singapore store will be relocated and renovated, too. There are really many things to be excited about.

Is there a specific one that you are looking out for?

It would be the high jewellery collection that we will release in April. It’s very daring and a small capsule [collection], but its launch will be very grand. And it will be surprising, because it’s traditional in the sense that it’s still inspired by nature, but not so much traditional in how we tell the story.

It’s always different each time.

We try to go beyond with every vision.

This article was written by Charmaine Tan and was first seen on Me’s Folio.

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