The Cartiers: A Legacy of Luxury
Oct
7
10:30 AM10:30

The Cartiers: A Legacy of Luxury

Francesca Cartier Brickell, author of The Cartiers: the Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire, discusses her decade-long research into her legendary family’s history; her favorite among Cartier’s most iconic jewels and her travels to India, meeting the nation’s erstwhile royalty. Francesca will be in conversation with the Maharani of Baroda, Her Highness Maharani Radhikaraje Gaekwad, who is researching and archiving the history of India’s royals as well as her family’s famed Gaekwad jewels.

Francesca Cartier Brickell is a direct descendant of the family that founded Cartier in 1847. Her late grandfather, Jean-Jacques Cartier was the last of the family to manage a branch of the business. Francesca is an expert on Cartier’s history, speaking at major auction houses, museums and cultural societies around the world. ‘The Cartiers’ is the result of years of independent research into Francesca’s family and the business they founded.

Maharani Radhikaraje Gaekwad is engaged in running the Lakshmi Vilas Palacein Vadodara, one of the world’s largest private residences and is currently documenting its priceless heirlooms. She is a patron of the Heritage Trust and haspresented her research on the Gaekwad jewels and India’s royal heritage at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston as well as for Saffronart, the Robb Report and the India Today Conclave.

IN-PERSON

Sat 07 Oct 2023

10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Hong Kong Jockey Club Hall, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty

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Book Talk at The Merode
Dec
6
7:00 PM19:00

Book Talk at The Merode

Join us for an unique evening at The Merode with author Francesca Cartier Brickell to hear all about this captivating story. This will be a richly illustrated talk, sharing not only the stories behind the jewel, but images of the jewels and those who wore them as well.

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Book Talk with Jewellery Arabia in partnership with Danat Pearls
Nov
22
6:00 PM18:00

Book Talk with Jewellery Arabia in partnership with Danat Pearls

Acclaimed author and direct descendant of the Cartier Family, Francesca Cartier Brickell, is coming to Jewellery Arabia! Francesca is visiting Bahrain to retrace her great grandfather’s footsteps and share the untold stories about his visit to Bahrain 100 years ago. She will also present a visual description of Bahrain and its natural pearls

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Talk at Artcurial
Oct
17
7:00 PM19:00

Talk at Artcurial

Join us to celebrate the launch of the French edition of "The Cartiers" by Francesca Cartier Brickell. Hosted by Julie Valade, Director of the Jewellery Department, and Géraldine Martin, Director of the Artcurial Bookstore, Editions Les Arenes, the event will take place at our Paris location and includes a talk by Francesca and book signing.

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Part I - The Cartiers and the British Crown: in conversation with Caroline de Guitaut
Feb
4
5:00 PM17:00

Part I - The Cartiers and the British Crown: in conversation with Caroline de Guitaut

We'll be exploring the stories behind behind jewels acquired by generations of the royal family and taking you on a journey through time: from the dazzling seasons and headache-inducing tiaras of Edwardian court life, to the princely gem-rich celebrations in bejewelled India and the glamour of the 1930s debutantes, all the way through to the changing fashions of post-war Britain and recent royal weddings.

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The Cartiers and the Maharajahs: At Home With The Maharani Of Baroda
Sep
4
3:00 PM15:00

The Cartiers and the Maharajahs: At Home With The Maharani Of Baroda

Legendary diamonds, ropes of perfect pearls, gem carpets, golden carriages and bejewelled elephants.. when Jacques Cartier visited Baroda in 1912, he was greeted with treasures beyond his wildest imagination. 

Fast forward three generations and I am thrilled to be speaking to the Maharani of Baroda, Radhikaraje Gaekwad, about the gem-rich legacy of our ancestors. We hope you can join us for this free webinar where, for the first time, we will be sharing a remarkable story from the perspective of both families (and thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Radhikaraje will be speaking from the same incredible palace my great-grandfather was so awed by over 100 years ago!)


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A Journey Through Time: The Cartiers and their Clocks
Jul
7
1:00 PM13:00

A Journey Through Time: The Cartiers and their Clocks

Francesca Cartier Brickell, Author of "The Cartiers" and Marie-Cecile Cisamolo, Jewellery specialist, Christie's, request the pleasure of your company for a live webinar…

To kick off the remarkable A Lifetime of Collecting –101 Cartier Clocks auction, delve into the untold stories behind the Cartiers’ most magnificent and mysterious timepieces


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The Jaipur Literature Festival 2020
Jan
24
1:40 PM13:40

The Jaipur Literature Festival 2020

The Jaipur Literature Festival 2020: Francesca Cartier Brickell in conversation with Meru Gokhale, Editor In Chief, Penguin Random House India

24 Jan | 1:40 PM - 2:20 PM

Jaipur Literature Festival 2020. Hotel Diggi Palace, Jaipur.

JLF2020.jpg

Nothing could have prepared me for the moment I walked onstage at the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF)..." To read more about this extraordinary event in Francesca's own words for Airmail, click here.



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Royal Oak Society: lecture and book signing
Dec
12
6:15 PM18:15

Royal Oak Society: lecture and book signing

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

In 2009, Francesca Cartier Brickell discovered hundreds of letters saved by generations of the Cartier family in the cellar of the family’s home in the south of France, transforming her understanding of her family. 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 believed was 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 Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire (to be published in November), upon which Francesca’s lecture is based. She will give us a behind-the-scenes look at the firm’s most iconic jewelry and the long line of stars from the worlds of fashion, film, and royalty who wore them. She will present a compelling family story, a saga of three brothers, Louis, Pierre and Jacques, who turned their grandfather’s humble Parisian jewelry store one of the world’s most famous luxury businesses.

Additional support for New York lectures is generously provided by Thomas and Patricia Bain, Dr. Leonora Ballinger, Virginia Brody, Mr. Albert Messina and Mr. Ken Jennings, Linda Pedro, Stephanie Speakerman, The Stoddart Family, John and Phillis Warden, Mr. William Lee Younger, and an Anonymous donor

Tickets:

$30 members; $40 non-members


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Hillwood Museum Lecture and Book Signing
Dec
10
5:30 PM17:30

Hillwood Museum Lecture and Book Signing

  • Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Cartiers

The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire

Immerse yourself in the captivating story of the family behind Cartier, and the three brothers who turned their grandfather’s humble Parisian jewelry store into a global luxury icon. Marjorie Post was one of Cartier’s most enduring clients, frequenting the firm’s three establishments from the 1920s through 1960s and working closely with Pierre Cartier. Francesca Cartier Brickell has traveled the world to research her family’s remarkable history and discovered long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way.  

EVENT TIMELINE 

5-7 p.m. |  Indulge in a three-course prix fixe meal at Merriweather Café. Reservations recommended.

5:30-7:30 p.m. | Mid-Century Master: The Photography of Alfred Eisenstaedtmansiongardens, and greenhouse open for self-guided touring.  
Enjoy light bites and beverages from Merriweather To Go, and visit the museum shop.  

7:30-8:30 p.m. | Lecture 

8:30 p.m. | Book Signing. The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire is available in the museum shop. 


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Skinner Auctioneers Lecture and Book Signing
Dec
5
5:00 PM17:00

Skinner Auctioneers Lecture and Book Signing

  • Skinner Auctioneers & Appraisers (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join us for an evening with author, Francesca Cartier Brickell, to immerse yourself in the captivating story of the family behind Cartier, and learn how a humble Parisian jewelry store became a global luxury icon.

The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartiers 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 men’s 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 world’s best rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, inspiring the celebrated Tutti Frutti jewelry.

Francesca Cartier Brickell, whose great-grandfather was the youngest of the brothers, will share the story of how, thanks to the contents of a weathered suitcase found in her grandfather’s cellar, she has travelled the world over the last decade researching her family’s illustrious history and the discovery of long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way.

5PM Reception | 6PM Presentation | 7PM Book Signing


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