Cartier Stories with Frank: From the Tutti Frutti origins to Pierre's Great Depression marketing

Francesca Cartier Brickell discusses her ten-year research into "The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewellery Empire," exploring the distinct roles of her three great-great-grandfather brothers. Louis emerged as the creative genius behind men's wristwatches and platinum jewelry, while Pierre became a brilliant American businessman who pioneered innovative marketing during the Great Depression, including a five-dollar department to build client loyalty. Jacques, the youngest brother who initially felt called to priesthood, eventually took over the London branch and traveled to India in 1911 to acquire gemstones and redesign maharaja crown jewels, though his first trip proved challenging as local court jewelers resisted his presence.

Brickell recounts Jacques's journey to India during the Delhi Durbar celebration for King George V's coronation, where he discovered that maharajas preferred fashionable pocket watches over the delicate Parisian corsage pieces and tiaras he brought. Though his initial commission to redesign the Baroda palace jewels was thwarted by protective local court jewelers, Brickell's later visit to the Maharani allowed her to share her great-great-grandfather's original 1911 sketches and witness the jewelry he had designed more than a century earlier.