FAMILY SECRETS
Prestige Singapore|March 2022
The discovery of a battered trunk in the cellar of her grandfather’s house in the south of France – filled with old documents and correspondence – led FRANCESCA CARTIER BRICKELL on a decade-long journey of discovery. François Oosthuizen speaks to her about her book, The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire.
FRANCESCA CARTIER BRICKELL
FAMILY SECRETS

First published in hardback by Ballantine Books in 2019 and last year as a paperback, the story of the family behind the jewellery empire is a captivating tale filled with intrigue, drama and fascination – all the more significant since it is told by the granddaughter of Jean-Jacques Cartier (1920-2010), who is the great-grandson of the maison’s founder Louis-François Cartier.

Ten years of Francesca Cartier Brickell’s life went into researching and writing the book. The experience not only revealed never-before published details about the family behind the global jewellery dynasty, but it also gave Francesca a deeper understanding of her own roots.

The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire offers a behind-the-scenes look at the French maison’s most iconic jewellery – the notoriously cursed Hope Diamond, the Romanov emeralds, the classic panther pieces – and the long line of stars from the worlds of fashion, film, and royalty who wore them.

It is also a compelling family story. Some of the most famous characters include the third-generation business owners: Louis Cartier, the visionary designer who created the first men’s wristwatch to help his aviator friend Alberto Santos-Dumont tell the time easily; the master dealmaker Pierre Cartier, who bought the house’s New York headquarters on Fifth Avenue for a double-stranded natural pearl necklace; and Jacques Cartier, the father of Jean-Jacques and a globe-trotting gemstone expert whose travels to India gave Cartier access to the world’s best rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, which inspired the celebrated Tutti Frutti jewellery style.

This story is from the March 2022 edition of Prestige Singapore.

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This story is from the March 2022 edition of Prestige Singapore.

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