“Francesca Cartier Brickell skilfully traces her family’s astounding history through the contents of a weathered suitcase found in her grandfather’s cellar. The result is a fascinating account of the Cartier brothers and the creation of this iconic and enduring luxury brand.” –André Leon Talley, bestselling author of A.L.T.: A Memoir
“Four generations of genius, glamour, and ambition are laid bare in Brickell’s behind-the-scenes account of the Cartier family. Part social history, part affectionate memoir, The Cartiers is a pleasurable stroll through the glittering byways of a more elegant age.” –Amanda Foreman, New York Times bestselling author of A World on Fire
In 2009, four generations of the Cartier family gathered in the south of France to celebrate patriarch Jean-Jacques Cartier’s ninetieth birthday. As the family enjoyed a casual holiday, Jean-Jacques announced that he’d been saving a vintage champagne for the occasion. His granddaughter, Francesca Cartier Brickell, offered to fetch it for him, and headed down into the cellar—where she made a discovery that transformed her understanding of her family.
Instead of champagne, what Francesca found was a battered trunk dotted with faded travel stickers from all over the world. Inside were hundreds and hundreds of letters, correspondence saved by generations of the Cartier family.
CARTIERS: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire (Ballantine Books hardcover; December), a captivating history full of never before revealed details about the family behind the global jewelry dynasty.There were missives about commissions for King Edward II, Grand Duchess Vladimir of Russia, Coco Chanel, the Duchess of Windsor, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly and Queen Elizabeth. There were birth announcements and telegrams after someone had died, love letters and homesick letters and airmail envelopes thick with pages detailing business pitfalls and successes, outlining strategies and offering advice. It was correspondence that the family had believed had been lost forever, and it launched Francesca on a decade-long quest to put together the missing pieces of her family’s history. She tracked down family archives in St. Louis and Tokyo; deciphered ancient gravestones; trekked through sapphire mines; met with pearl sheikhs from the Persian Gulf and jewelry dealers from Sri Lanka. The result is THE CARTIERS.
THE CARTIERS offers a behind-the-scenes look at the firm’s most iconic jewelry—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. But it is also a compelling family story, a saga of three brothers who turned their grandfather’s humble Parisian jewelry store one of the world’s most famous luxury businesses. It’s the story of Louis Cartier, the visionary designer who created the first men’s wristwatch to help an aviator friend tell the time without taking his hands from the controls of his flying machine. Pierre Cartier, the master dealmaker who bought the New York headquarters on Fifth Avenue for a double-stranded natural pearl necklace. And Jacques Cartier, the globe-trotting gemstone expert whose travels to India gave Cartier access to the world’s best rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, inspiring the celebrated Tutti-Frutti jewelry.
As historian Diana Scarisbrick writes in the book’s foreword, “Many books have been written over the years on Cartier, but none have delved so deep into the true story of the family behind the firm…. although the exhibitions on Cartier over recent decades have shown so many beautiful objects, almost all the people most responsible for designing, making, and selling them have remained in the shadows. Now the veil has been lifted and the real story of the creation of Cartier has finally emerged.”
Encompassing the highs and lows of four generations, this extraordinary story traces the Cartier dynasty from the founding of the firm in the early 19th century through to its sale in the 1970’s. Featuring photos from the author’s archive, THE CARTIERS is an epic history shown through the deeply personal lens of one legendary family.
Francesca Cartier Brickell is a graduate in English literature from Oxford University, and a direct descendant of the Cartier family. She is a sought-after international lecturer on Cartier’s illustrious history, and has given talks for major auction houses, museums, and societies. THE CARTIERS is the result of years of the author’s independent research into her family and the business they founded. Francesca lives with her husband and children in London and the South of France.