The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire

A dynamic group biography studded with design history and high-society dash . . . [This] elegantly wrought narrative bears the Cartier hallmark.The Economist The astounding (Andr Leon Talley) story of the family behind the Cartier empire and the three brothers who turned their grandfathers humble Parisian jewelry store into a global luxury iconas told by a great-granddaughter with exclusive access to long-lost family archives Ms. Cartier Brickell has done her grandfather proud.The Wall Street Journal The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynastyfour generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was Never copy, only create and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents: Louis, the visionary designer who created the first mens wristwatch to help an aviator friend tell the time without taking his hands off the controls of his flying machine; Pierre, the master dealmaker who bought the New York headquarters on Fifth Avenue for a double-stranded natural pearl necklace; and Jacques, the globe-trotting gemstone expert whose travels to India gave Cartier access to the worlds best rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, inspiring the celebrated Tutti Frutti jewelry. Francesca Cartier Brickell, whose great-grandfather was the youngest of the brothers, has traveled the world researching her familys history, tracking down those connected with her ancestors and discovering long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way. Now she reveals never-before-told dramas, romances, intrigues, betrayals, and more. The Cartiers also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the firms most iconic jewelrythe notoriously cursed Hope Diamond, the Romanov emeralds, the classic panther piecesand the long line of stars from the worlds of fashion, film, and royalty who wore them, from Indian maharajas and Russian grand duchesses to Wallis Simpson, Coco Chanel, and Elizabeth Taylor. Published in the two-hundredth anniversary year of the birth of the dynastys founder, Louis-Franois Cartier, this book is a magnificent, definitive, epic social history shown through the deeply personal lens of one legendary family.