The Love bracelet is an oval rigid bangle in yellow, white, or rose gold, designed by Aldo Cipullo for Cartier New York in 1969. Its defining feature is the fastening: the bracelet is secured not by a clasp but by two small screws, removed and replaced using a small screwdriver that is sold with the piece. Once on the wrist, it cannot be taken off without the screwdriver. Six decorative screwheads are visible on the outside face.
Aldo Cipullo and the design concept
Cipullo (1935-1984) was an Italian-born designer who joined Cartier New York in 1969. The Love bracelet was among the first pieces he designed there. The concept drew on the imagery of restraint and locking devices, presenting the bracelet as something given and kept rather than worn and removed at will. The marketing built on this: the bracelet was marketed to couples, intended to be given between two people, each wearing their own. Celebrities including Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and Andy Warhol, were among those associated with it in the early 1970s.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), ch. 11 (“The End of an Era, 1957–1974”)
- Wikipedia: Cartier Love Bracelet
