Writer Francesca Cartier Brickell, the great-great-great-granddaughter of one of the founding brothers of the Cartier jewelry empire, spent 10 years working on a book about her family's history. This winter, “Cartier: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire” was published by Fabula, and we tell you why it's a fascinating family drama – a good read for cold February evenings.
For decades, the Cartier jewelry empire has told its story in the language of jewelry — tiaras, bracelets, and watches — but the people behind the famous jewels have remained off the screen. In the book “Cartier. The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire,” 48-year-old writer Francesca Cartier Brickell shifts the focus for the first time: from the creations to those who created, sold, protected, and lost them. Interestingly, her research, which took more than 10 years to complete, is not a deconstruction of the brand, but an attempt to see it from the inside, as a family system with its own rules, conflicts, and vulnerabilities.
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Francesca Cartier Brickell writes from the perspective of a person inside history. Her great-great-great-grandfather founded the firm in 1847, and her late grandfather, Jean-Jacques Cartier, was the last member of the family to run the company. Francesca has a degree in English literature and pursued a career in finance, but eventually focused on literature. For ten years, Francesca has sought out original sources around the world and met with people connected to the family and its business. She works with the family’s private archive: hundreds of letters, telegrams, notes, and diaries found in a suitcase in the basement of her grandfather Jean-Jacques Cartier’s house. It is these documents that form the basis of the book and determine its tone—personal, documentary, and at times uncomfortable.
Structurally, the book covers four generations of the Cartier family, but the central place is occupied by the period when the brand was formed as an international force. The key figures are the three brothers: Louis, Pierre and Jacques. The book gradually reveals the internal architecture of Cartier as a family business. From the letters and memoirs, it becomes clear that the Cartier brothers harmoniously complemented each other: Louis focused on artistic vision and style, Pierre was responsible for working with clients and financial stability, and Jacques was engaged in the international development of the house. It is this difference in roles and personalities that allowed the family business to grow into a global empire. At the same time, the book does not idealize this collaboration: the letters record the tension, fatigue, fear of mistakes and the pressure of responsibility.
One of the main issues Francesca raises is the price of success for a family brand. Through personal correspondence, it is possible to trace how business absorbs private life, how decisions made in the interests of the House affect family relationships, health and the feeling of home. Cartier in the book is a constant process of balancing between creativity and control, between freedom and discipline.
Another important theme is the loss of the family presence in the brand. The author speaks honestly about the moment when Cartier ceases to be a family company and passes into the hands of corporate structures. The figure of Jean-Jacques Cartier, her grandfather, becomes key: he symbolizes the end of an era in which the brand was still an extension of the family, and not just a global business unit.
At the same time, the book speaks volumes about the values that have survived the change of ownership. Francesca shows how respect for craft, attention to detail, and an ethical attitude towards customers and craftsmen shaped Cartier’s reputation long before the brand became part of luxury conglomerates. This, she argues, is what allowed the house to maintain its identity even after the loss of family control.
It is important that the author avoids mythologizing. She does not try to “clean up” history, does not hide conflicts and difficult decisions. On the contrary, the book constantly returns to the question: is a perfect balance between art, business and family possible and is the brand itself not the result of constant compromises.
In short, Francesca Cartier Brickell's “Cartier…” is a book not just about a jewelry empire, but about the mechanics of inheritance, memory, and responsibility. She explains Cartier not through jewelry, but through people, and that is its main value. It is an honest, documented look at a brand that is used to being seen as a symbol of excellence, but rarely as the result of complex human decisions.