Cartier and Persian / Islamic Inspiration

‘The Persian style,’ my grandfather once explained to me, ‘was the purest influence on the Cartier style.’ As a child, he had missed his parents on their many trips to India and the Middle East but those long voyages abroad had given his father, Jacques, the seeds of inspiration to create a new style of jewellery. Pencil drawings of their surroundings – temples, mosques, carvings, motifs – scribbled in his travel diaries would later be transformed into clocks, vanity cases and brooches, while suitcases filled with exotic objects –rugs, paintings, sculptures, fabrics – would inspire teams of designers back home.

#NeverCopyOnlyCreate… The seeds of inspiration came from far and wide, from old and new, but somehow the jewels they inspired always tapped into the mood of the day: the almond-shaped motifs in a 1920s #bandeau may have been inspired by pre-Islamic Iranian book-bindings but made in diamonds, framed by rubies and set against black steel (pictured), they became strikingly avant-garde.

Apt then that a new exhibition - Cartier & Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity @madparis – celebrates the links between arguably the most significant creative influence on the Cartiers – the Islamic Arts – and the glittering creations themselves. There is no absence of sparkle on display but the curators also wanted to show the jewels and precious objects in a new light, alongside the sources of inspiration. The result is that carved emeralds, enormous diamonds and blood-red rubies sit alongside 14th century Iranian tiles, ancient books, Turkish silks, Iznik ceramics and many sketches, designs and photos.

It’s rare that one has the chance to see inside the creative process like this, including so many sketches and designs from #CharlesJacqueau, the genius head designer at Cartier Paris through the #artdecoperiod and a man the Cartier brothers – and their descendants - admired enormously.

To read more about it – and see some of the glorious pieces close up – check out my full review of the exhibition in @tatlermagazine (link in bio). Images courtesy of the Musée des Arts Decoratifs (and my photos of the exhibition!)

Anyone else seen it? Would love to know your thoughts...