Of crowns, stars & stones

At London’s V&A Museum, a diamond tiara greets visitors with quiet brilliance. The Manchester Tiara, created by Cartier in 1903 for Consuelo, Dowager Duchess of Manchester, stands not just as the opener for this exhibition on the storied Parisian brand—it captures Cartier’s story in miniature.

The tiara’s significance lies as much in its story as in its setting. “It was made in Paris, for an American heiress marrying into English aristocracy,” explains Helen Molesworth, senior curator of jewellery at the V&A and lead curator of the exhibition. It embodies the international reach, cultural cachet and modern vision that turned a modest Parisian workshop into the world’s most influential jeweller.

This global perspective became Cartier’s defining characteristic. The exhibition reveals how the three brothers—Louis, Pierre and Jacques, grandsons of founder Louis-François Cartier—strategically positioned themselves across three continents. “They set themselves up in Paris, London and New York, beginning the globalisation of Cartier,” explains Molesworth. It was this rare blend of daring design, flawless craftsmanship and border-transcending inspiration that propelled Cartier into one of the world’s most forward-thinking jewellery houses—establishing a blueprint that global luxury brands still follow today.

A RARE GEM

“The three brothers looking to the world around them was the beginning of what we now recognise as the Cartier style and heritage,” says Molesworth. “Jacques travelled through India, the Middle East and Sri Lanka; Pierre explored Russia; Louis found his muse on the streets of Paris.” From Egypt to China and India, no source of inspiration was off limits.

In doing so, Cartier built a vocabulary of design that was light, modern and strikingly ahead of its time while still feeling of-the-moment. The maison’s signature garland style revolutionised 20th-century jewellery, replacing the weighty Victorian aesthetic with an airy play of materials. “Every generation since has tapped into [contemporary trends], but always with a nod to heritage rooted in creativity and craftsmanship,” adds Molesworth.

Over 175 years, this ethos has produced countless icons: the Tank and Crash watches, the exuberant Tutti Frutti necklaces, and legendary pieces for Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace of Monaco, and Queen Elizabeth II—whose pink diamond Williamson brooch was famously worn to Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding.

JEWELLER OF KINGS

Founded in Paris in 1847, Cartier’s ties with royalty cemented its reputation as “the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers.” In 1907, Cartier created the trousseau jewels for Princess Marie Bonaparte, Napoleon I’s great-grandniece, who was marrying into the Danish-Greek royal family. Prior to delivery, the maison displayed the pieces at its Rue de la Paix showroom in Paris—a masterstroke of early luxury marketing.

Two decades later, in 1928, came an even more monumental commission—a ceremonial necklace for Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala in India. At 1000 carats and composed of 2930 diamonds, it remains the largest necklace ever created by Cartier.

“Cartier came up with brilliant ideas in the 20th century that we now call marketing”

“But it only worked because the jewels themselves were extraordinary. You cannot sustain 150-plus years of success without being rooted in quality,” says Molesworth.

THE FAMILY LEGACY

“The unshakeable bond of the three brothers was the magic ingredient,” says Francesca Cartier Brickell, great-granddaughter of Tutti Frutti mastermind Jacques, and author of acclaimed 2019 book The Cartiers. This human dimension, she explains, was “the essential element my grandfather [Jean-Jacques] felt was absent from publications about the firm and its creations.”

Francesca’s research revealed the extraordinary depth of the brothers’ relationship. Initially, she questioned whether the family stories might be romanticised. “My grandfather had told me how his father and two uncles would do anything for each other, so much so it annoyed their wives,” she recalls. “But I always wondered if this was an exaggerated family legend passed down with rose-tinted spectacles.”

Then she discovered proof in decades of correspondence. Pierre wrote to Jacques during WWI: “You know from experience that my two brothers mean everything to me. It’s together that we dreamed of the greatness of our house; it’s together that we developed it and spread its fame to the four corners of the globe.” As Francesca puts it: “This wasn’t a fairy tale—it was documented reality.”

For Francesca, this family spirit lives on at the exhibition. The Cartier London Stag brooch—never before displayed publicly—particularly resonates. “It was the piece my grandfather Jean-Jacques was most proud of,” she explains. The brooch, created as a wedding anniversary gift for her grandmother’s sister, embodies the family’s “commitment to ‘never copy, only create,’ their belief in taking time to do something properly, and that magical collaborative spirit between designer and craftsman.”

The exhibition reminds us that jewellery is never mere ornamentation, notes Molesworth. “When you look at Cartier, you see how the world has changed, how it has responded to jewellery, and how one of the greatest maisons of all time helped shape the story of the 20th century.”

Ultimately, Cartier’s genius lay in both design and marketing strategy. Through limited production and placing pieces on celebrated women, every move created desirability that fed the brand’s global mythology—turning objects into symbols of power.

01 Manchester Tiara, Harnichard for Cartier Paris, 1903. Commission for Consuelo, Dowager Duchess of Manchester. Diamonds, gold and silver; the C-scroll at each end set with glass paste.

02 Brooch, Cartier London, 1933. Amethyst, sapphires, diamonds and platinum. Image: Vincent Wulveryck, Collection Cartier.

03 Patiala Necklace, Cartier Paris, special order, 1928 (restored 1999– 2002). Commissioned by Bhupinder Singh, Maharajah of Patiala. Diamonds, yellow and white zirconia, topaz, synthetic rubies, smoky quartz, citrine set in platinum. Image: Vincent Wulveryck, Collection Cartier.