IT'S not unusual for designers to get inspiration from art, architecture and other high-culture sources.

But Chopard co-president and artistic director Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele drew hers from quite a different source for the brand's 150th anniversary jewellery collection: stuffed toys.

Shares Patrick Normand, managing director of Chopard Asia: 'Caroline, who's very fond of animals and an advocate of animal issues, came across the idea to create a fantasy bestiary one sleepless night.

She was 'cornered' by two of her stuffed animals - a monkey and a rabbit - and decided then that animals and nature would make an excellent theme for the anniversary collection.'

The result of that inspiration is a limited 150-piece range of jewellery and timepieces that, while undoubtedly in the high jewellery realm, are completely approachable, fun and magical too.

A necklace that features two mischievous looking monkeys stealing mangoes from a cascading bunch, for example, has the animals' 'fur' recreated by Chopard's master stone setter out of brown and cognac diamonds; the mangoes are of orange-red sapphires.

Meanwhile, a white gold ring is adorned with an emerald-and-black-diamond frog wearing a yellow gold crown - the creature's liquid eyes have been so realistically worked such that they hold an expression of melancholy.

But the collection isn't one-dimensionally cutesy; there are designs that depict maggots, rats and other less-loveable creatures as well.

'In addition to the more 'normal' animals, Caroline did not hesitate to honour the more exotic, unusual, less pleasant, imaginary and endangered species,' says Mr Normand.

To create the incredibly detailed pieces, the brand's craftsmen studied each creature down to the last detail, then reproduced it by 'pushing the limits of their jewellery-making skills with the utilisation of ancestral techniques like lacquering, pearl weaving and stone carving mixed with 3D modelling and titanium casting', Mr Normand says.

Thinking of hunting down a few of these animals? You don't have to.

Come July, the complete collection will travel to Singapore as part of Chopard's 150th Anniversary Animal World tour, which recently made its debut in New York. The showcase will be going to 13 international cities.

'We hope people will appreciate and be enticed by the realism and boisterous persona of each handcrafted jewellery piece,' says Mr Normand.

The 150th Anniversary Animal World tour will be in Singapore in July. Date and venue to be confirmed. For updates, email [email protected]