Diamonds, Romance & The Birth Of An Empire: The Never-Before-Told Story Of The Cartiers

On the 90th birthday of her grandfather, Francesca Cartier Brickell went down to the cellar in search of the perfect bottle of champagne. While rummaging through stuff, Brickell stumbled upon an aged leather trunk embellished with her grandfather¡¯s initials. The trunk housed letters that went on to reveal a story she didn't realise she'd been searching for all this while.

¡°I traced my great-grandfather¡¯s footsteps around the world and that eventually led me to this beautiful country¡ª India.¡± Francesca Cartier Brickell is beaming as she sits opposite me.

Her book ¡®The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire' has seen thunderous success.

The Cartier Brothers with their father (From L-R: Pierre, Louis, Alfred And Jacques)/Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

In that idyllic house in the French countryside, Francesca stood holding the remnants of a deep bond between three brothers. It chronicled their journey in making a name for themselves in the world of jewellery.

Along with the letters, the young Cartier also found journals that had sketches depicting the temples, the landscape and the jewellery found in India. It belonged to Jacques Cartier, one of the three founders of the iconic global luxury jewellery brand who had gone one to form a long abiding relationship with the Indian Maharajas and their families.

India held the precious stones that helped him create the timeless pieces we still admire.

Jacques Cartier/The Cartiers-The Untold Story Of The Family Behind The Jewelry Empire.

¡°Wherever my great-grandfather travelled, he carried a small diary. It had extremely descriptive information on what he saw in India and the temples that he visited. If he saw a certain architectural design, it would find its way into a tiara," Brickell explains.

"His journal helped me get a feel of a time that has long since gone and so have its people. It allowed me to peek into his genius.¡±

A genius he was, just like his two brothers, Louis and Pierre Cartier. It has been famously recorded that Pierre, the middle brother bought the famed Cartier headquarters on Fifth Avenue in New York in exchange for a double-stranded pearl necklace. And Louis has been credited for making the first wristwatch for men.

¡°Each of the three brothers brought something unique to the table. Like, Louis Cartier broke the stigma around wristwatches which were then thought of as a very feminine concept. But through this journey I have also discovered that while the world considered them geniuses, they battled the same fear and anxiety like any of us," she says.

(L-R) Louis Cartier and Pierre Cartier/The Cartiers-The Untold Story Of The Family Behind The Jewelry Empire.

The letters that Francesca found in her grandfather¡¯s trunk described the royalty of India. Jacques Cartier would make yearly trips to India with jewel-filled suitcases, hoping to make a good sale.

¡°When Jacques met the Maharajas and their wives, he never thought that the men would be more interested in his jewellery than the Maharanis themselves. The opulence and flamboyance of it all left him amused,¡± Brickell reveals.

And it was this love for jewellery the Indian royalty basked in that helped Cartier stay afloat during the Great Depression. ¡°It was one of the worst economic downturn and many companies were filing for bankruptcy. However, Cartier sailed through thanks to the Maharajas and their penchant for beautiful jewels cut in a European style,¡± she adds smilingly.

Given all that travel, Jacques Cartier had interesting encounters on his visit to India. He understood the importance of networking and was quite good at it. It also helped that he was very well-read and respectful about the culture of every country he visited. All this worked to cement his friendship with the Maharaja of Baroda and his wife. He also formed an alliance with Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, one of the richest men in the world then.

¡°When my great-grandfather met the Maharaja of Baroda they became fast friends, attending polo matches and lunches. It was during the course of this time that they decided to commission him to possibly reset their jewellery into interesting designs. Resetting was a big business for Cartier," she explains.

(L-R): Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Of Patiala and Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji Jadeja/wikipedia

"Word got around. This reached the ears of the court jewellers who weren¡¯t too happy about this. They escorted Jacques out of Baroda minus the commission!"

"But all ended well. The royal family and he would meet whenever they travelled to Europe. And yes, he was paid later for his work. After all, they were good friends,¡± Francesca recalls fondly.

Even the Maharaja of Patiala is known to have given Jacques Cartier his biggest commission back when the world was in the throes of an economic slowdown. The two first met in 1911. Jacques went to his court hopeful he'd be able to sell jewellery only to have the maharaja trying to sell his own!

However, it took some time for the two parties to reach the stage of mutual admiration. One of the most significant trades happened between the jeweller and Sir Ranjisinhji Vibhaji Jadeja, the Maharaja of Nawanagar: A coloured diamond necklace that clearly was a good sale.

For Jacques Cartier, India left a strong mark on him. It was almost like he shared a spiritual connection with the gemstones that this country had to offer. Jacques Cartier was bowled over by the different hues of India. He likened it to an impressionist painting. On his return to London he would create jewellery using those very colours.

Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, son of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala wearing the necklace his father commissioned Cartiers/pinterest

Francesca Cartier Brickell took a decade to research and write a book about the people she grew up looking at in silver photo frames. The faces in the photographs seemed two dimensional to her, people whose lives had to be searched for in history. During the course of writing this book, Brickell interacted with the families of lapidarists and the Indian royalty who worked in close association with her great-grandfather.

¡°The warmth, generosity and hospitality that Indians showered on my great-grandfather back then can still be found alive and kicking. Through the entire process of this book, I have been treated very well by everyone I came to be in touch with. I still get messages from people inviting me to spend time with them. It¡¯s like a rabbit hole, you come across a new tunnel at every turn that connects to your story,¡± Brickell says warmly.

When Jacques Cartier spent nearly three weeks on a ship to India, he did not know what to expect of a country he may have only heard about. As he approached Bombay it appeared to him as a veiled lady on the horizon enveloped by the sky of the brightest blue in colour. Little did he know that he was about to step foot on a land that would prove highly profitable for him and his brothers, playing an important role in building an iconic brand that still breathes.