Maison Cartier, the firm founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier, is one of the most renowned names in jewellery and watchmaking. This exhibition explores the story of Cartier as it developed from around 1900, when Louis-François’s three grandsons, Louis, Pierre and Jacques, took charge of running the family business. Under their leadership, Cartier became a global company, and its history is entwined with many of the most significant events and influential people of the twentieth century. Its exclusive client list led to Cartier being named ‘the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers’, likely by the Prince of Wales, Britain’s future King Edward VII.

Created in partnership with the V&A London, CARTIER features nearly 400 exceptional jewels and timepieces created by Cartier in the last 125 or so years. The exhibition includes many significant heritage pieces lent by the Cartier Collection, along with important loans from public museums and private collections. It also features a large selection of design drawings, photographs, books and other printed materials from the Cartier Archives in Paris, London and New York. Together, these treasures demonstrate the unique qualities of Cartier creations, characterised by a union of inspired design, exceptional craftsmanship and technical innovation.

Paris at the turn of the twentieth century was a cosmopolitan centre for art and design from all over the globe. All things ‘oriental’ and ‘exotic’ were in vogue, with the traditions of ancient Egypt, India, Japan, China, Iran and the Islamic world offering new possibilities for form and colour.

For inspiration, Cartier designers were encouraged to study books on the decorative arts and architecture of these cultures, which Louis and Jacques Cartier made available to them. The Maison also acquired ancient fragments, or pieces from disassembled jewellery or other items, creating a resource for the designers to use as reference material or to incorporate into new designs. Called apprêts by Cartier, such artefacts were often collected from antiques dealers, several of which were located near Cartier on the rue de la Paix in Paris.

The Cartier brothers nurtured close relationships with an elite, taste-making clientele. As well as producing pieces for stock, where they could experiment with daring new ideas, Cartier designed bespoke commissions that reflected the Maison’s clients’ individual interests, culture and personality. These collaborations between client and jeweller led to some of the most magnificent pieces ever created by Cartier.

Maison Cartier combined the art of global traditions with lively imagination as part of a broader design approach. Just as neighbouring cultures often inspired one another’s artistic output in the past, Cartier in turn explored and reinterpreted aesthetics from around the world to create its own inimitable yet modern style. The Maison’s strikingly bold and modern designs came to international prominence at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, held in Paris in 1925. This exhibition, which made Art Deco a global sensation, was the culmination of years of experimentation and design innovation for Cartier.

Underpinning its creative success was Cartier’s design approach, which constantly pushes the boundaries of creativity and continues to find expression in Cartier creations today. Hard to define but instantly recognisable, Cartier pieces combine recurrent design motifs, a purity of line, bold colour combinations and a harmony of space and volume with exceptionally high-quality materials and craftsmanship.

The Cartier brothers set out to source the world’s finest gems, and established the firm’s reputation for cutting and mounting new or historically significant gemstones in the Cartier style. Jacques, the gem expert, travelled to the Middle East, India and Sri Lanka in search of stones and local connections. Important gems were also supplied directly via a strong trade network and wealthy clientele, and Pierre in particular was known for acquiring historically significant gems such as the Hope diamond.

Historically, in some parts of the world, the extraction and trade of raw materials – notably, diamonds, rubies and jade – has been a fraught industry, with colonialist practices and complex issues around transparency in traceability. In other countries, such as Sri Lanka, where sapphire mining has long followed sustainable practices and supported local communities, it has also had a positive impact. Today the global landscape continues to evolve. In 2005 Maison Cartier became a founding member of the Responsible Jewellery Council, established to develop ethical and sustainable standards. It collaborates with industry and business partners to promote best practices, traceability and transparency across the full supply chain.

Jeanne Toussaint’s contribution to the development of Cartier’s stylistic identity is immeasurable. Through her own innate creativity, she continued to build on the foundations of the Cartier style and developed a unique design aesthetic that was informed by diverse cultural influences and her deep desire to create jewels with sculptural volume, flair and flexibility for the modern woman. So recognisable were her designs that they were referred to as being in the goût Toussaint – the ‘Toussaint taste’.

Toussaint began designing leather goods for Cartier in the early 1920s. By 1925 she was running the S Department, which Louis Cartier established to produce utilitarian objects such as writing instruments, handbags and vanity cases, using lower-priced, albeit precious, materials. In 1933, recognising her creative talent, Louis appointed Toussaint Creative Director, a position that she held until her retirement in 1970.

In 1917 Louis gifted Toussaint a diamond and onyx vanity case that was decorated with a panther; it was the first Cartier jewel to figuratively represent the big cat. Toussaint was captivated by the animal – she was allegedly nicknamed La Panthère – and went on to drive the inspiration behind many of the iconic big cat designs that have now become so deeply associated with Cartier.

Now intrinsically associated with Cartier, the panther has been part of the Maison’s iconography since 1914, when it appeared in its earliest inception as a wristwatch with onyx spots evoking a panther’s patterned fur. Within the Maison’s design lexicon, the term ‘panther’ refers to both the leopard with its distinctive rosette markings (Panthera pardus), and to the dark-coloured variants of the leopard and the jaguar (Panthera onca).

Representing strength and elegance in equal measure, the wild cat has been reimagined by Cartier in innumerable ways, from depictions of its patterned fur to figurative portrayals of the creature at rest and play. In this section of the exhibition, a selection of panther jewels, from the earliest to some of the most recent, are displayed in a context that focuses on the design and creation process. The savoir faire, or ‘know-how’, that goes into the Maison’s creations is illuminated through this most distinctive Cartier motif.

At Cartier, imaginative design and technical engineering have always been part of the same process. The Maison’s workshops are laboratories for experimentation and innovation, for both Cartier’s own creations and for audacious commissions embodying the personalities of its exacting clients. Whether through its visually alluring Mystery clocks – first created in 1912 and continuing to be made today – or its experimentation with the form of the wristwatch, Cartier has always put technical invention at the service of aesthetics.

Equal parts jeweller and watchmaker, Cartier elevated timepieces from functional items to elegant objects of desire. The history of timepieces at Cartier emerged from collaborations with talented clock and watchmakers including Maurice Coüet and Edmond Jaeger. They developed new mechanical forms that freed the Maison’s creative imagination and allowed it to experiment with shape and design.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the rapidly growing motion picture industry provided a far-reaching platform for Cartier to spread its reputation, throughout the United States and beyond. Rudolph Valentino became the first actor to wear a piece by Cartier on-screen, in the 1926 silent film The Son of the Sheikh. As movie stars replaced high society as the tastemakers of the day, Cartier jewels and watches became symbols of individuality, refinement and glamour.

In the golden age of Hollywood, film stars served as Cartier’s best ambassadors, wearing their personal jewels in publicity stills and on camera, as well as in their private lives. Several prominent actors were important Cartier clients, including Oscar-winning actresses Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.

In addition to such starring roles, today Cartier is also active behind the scenes. In recent years, the Maison has collaborated with filmmakers on special projects in which a Cartier jewel is a necessary part of the film’s narrative by making a replica or even creating a new design. In exceptional cases, original creations from the heritage Cartier Collection have been made available to be worn on-screen.

The late 1960s and early 1970s was a time of considerable change, both in the world at large and within Cartier’s global business structure. Jacques and Louis Cartier had died in 1941 and 1942, respectively, while Pierre retired in 1947. The next generation of the Cartier family oversaw the individual sale of each of the three branches of the business in the 1960s and 1970s. By 1976, a group of investors had acquired all three branches, making Cartier an international entity once again.

Throughout Maison Cartier’s history, the central pillars of its design language, including clean lines, innovative colour combinations and sculptural volume, have provided a framework in which universal curiosity inspires new design directions. Louis Cartier established the creative foundations for this stylistic approach that is able to evolve yet still remain relevant over time. Jeanne Toussaint continued this evolution from the 1930s to the 1960s. In 1973, in New York, an Italian American designer named Aldo Cipullo contributed his own unique approach, transforming Cartier’s legacy once more. Today, Cartier’s designers continue to be inspired by these foundational principles in their quest for contemporary expression.

Tiaras have long been the ultimate symbol of status and style. With symbolic links to celestial halos and laurel wreaths of classical antiquity, the tiara occupies a position at the very apex in the hierarchy of jewellery forms. Tiaras have been worn for centuries and, being located on the wearer’s head, are charged with the most potent symbolism, associated with royal crowns and their nearness to the divine. The tiara also represents the highest expression of a jeweller’s creative imagination and technical skill.

Maison Cartier became a master of tiaras at a time when members of high society wore them to the most glittering events in the social calendar. Long associated with marriage, tiaras, particularly during the early decades of the twentieth century, were considered an essential element of a lady’s jewellery ensemble when attending a royal or aristocratic wedding. Demand for these head ornaments persisted longest in London, where they were a requirement of Royal Court dress. In 1937, the year of King George VI’s coronation, Cartier London made more tiaras than in any year before or since. Today, while few occasions demand a tiara, they remain the pinnacle of Maison Cartier’s glamour, romance and artistry.