CARTIER: THE JEWELER OF KINGS, THE KING OF JEWELERS

Even on a weekday, the Cartier exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London was heaving with jewel fiends swooning over more than 350 jaw-dropping pieces that include gobstopper-sized diamond rings, overwhelming swags of necklaces, and dazzling tiaras, secured from international museums, royal collections, and private collectors.

- RICKY TOLEDO & CHITO VIJANDRE

We, of course, were among the swooners, growing up with jewelry, Tanks and Santos watches at Rustan's where Cartier had its beginnings and eventually expanded to standalone boutiques. Manila's most elegant women would be seen wearing the most exquisite pieces from the house. If Cartier is one of the most recognizable names in jewelry and a world-renowned symbol of luxury, its success can be attributed to the three brothers - Louis, Pierre and Jacques-who inherited the business from their grandfather, Louis-François Cartier, who founded the house in 1847. They expanded the Paris workshop into a global brand, with Louis as the creative visionary and designer, Pierre handling the business in New York, and Jacques managing the London branch while lending his expertise in gemstones.

You can't imagine that the house had humble beginnings. "It was a small family firm, barely even a business, just a little workshop struggling to survive in difficult times," says Francesca Cartier Brickell, Jacques' great-granddaughter. "When Louis-François Cartier set up the business in 1847, he had a revolution to contend with in his first year of operation-no easy undertaking to sell diamonds when people are so hungry they're forced to eat rats." The only son, Alfred, kept the firm afloat by buying jewelry at knocked-down prices from desperate Parisians and selling them across the Channel to English aristocrats.

When the firm did get its bearings, it produced some of the most beautiful pieces from 1900 to the 1940s, displaying impeccable craftsmanship and technical ingenuity, establishing its reputation from that period on.

The exhibition explores this illustrious history, transporting you to Cartier's world - from Indian Maharajahs to Belle Époque princesses and Russian duchesses - clients that the brothers encountered as they explored the globe for inspiration and rare gemstones.