1870, Paris is under siege. All businesses were forced to shut down. But Cartier wasn't ready to give up. They were ready to do anything to save
their small shop and family's legacy. The founder leaves his son behind, and
forces him to survive on dog and rat meat. And soon, they find a way out. This is how a poor boy invented
Cartier and changed the lives of many who know the brand today. In the 19th century, Louis-François
Cartier was born to a poor metalworker and laundress in Paris, France. Growing up, Louis-François dreamed
about pursuing a formal education. But sadly, his future was not up to him. Being the oldest son in a family
that now had seven mouths to feed, Louis-François’ father ordered him to
work to help support the family instead. Louis-François obliged. And then began an apprenticeship
with master watchmaker and jeweler, Adolphe Picard. The work was not easy. Louis-François had to work grueling
15-hour days and was often treated like a prisoner by his superiors. However, he managed to persevere, and
after several years, it paid off well. When Adolphe wanted to open a new
workshop in the fashionable part of Paris, Louis-François jumped at
the opportunity to buy his old one. He turned to his relatives for
a loan and asked Adolphe if he could pay the rest overtime. Fortunately, Adolphe agreed to his offer. He had gotten to know Louis-François over
the years and knew he was trustworthy. Louis-François renamed
the workshop, Cartier. And like his predecessor, he made
jewels in-house and then sold them to other workshops and jewelers. Only one year later, Louis-François
found himself having to abandon his dreams for the second time. For months, the tension between Parisians
and the king and government had been brewing due to an unfair social system,
poor economy, and poor leadership. So when Parisians were banned from hosting
banquets to discuss ideas for reform, the tension unavoidably boiled over. Parisians flooded the streets
to protest, just 10 minutes from Louis-François' workshop. Armed soldiers sought to contain
them by firing shots into the crowd and wound up killing over 50. Chaos continued for the next several
months and forced businesses like Cartier to close their doors. Shaken, Louis-François was certain that he
would not be able to reopen his workshop. But after three long years, a
new monarch had come into power and the chaos began to settle. Louis-François then decided to
not only reopen Cartier’s doors but change its business model. Like his former master, Adolphe,
he would move his workshop to the fashionable part of Paris so that he
could sell jewelry directly to clients. The timing couldn’t have been better. More people were becoming wealthy from
the industrialization in France and luxury returned to being in demand. However, most people bought from the
same and more established workshops, and Cartier was not among them. Eager to succeed, Louis-François
set out to differentiate Cartier through quality and kindness. “Be very kind. It is the easy way to keep friends
whom we may need, however lowly or great their position is.” Unbeknownst to Louis-François, it
would lead to a chance encounter with one of the most influential
women in Paris — who would open grand doors for the small-time jeweler. One day, a woman wandered into
Louis-François’ tiny workshop, and headed towards the gold knick-knacks on display. After admiring them for some time, the
woman wound up buying three brooches. She later returned to purchase a necklace,
and over time, seeked Louis-François out personally for several more jewels. The woman was the
Countess of Nieuwerkerke. Louis-François never imagined that the
countess would be a loyal customer and that a scandal would lead to meeting one
of the most influential women in Paris. One evening, the countess wore
a Cartier jewel at a party. There, her husband's mistress caught a
glimpse of the jewel and was mesmerized. Lucky for Louis-François, the woman
learned that the jewel was a Cartier, and she wasn’t just some socialite. She was a princess and
cousin of the emperor. Princess Mathlide. After the party, Princess Mathlide
decided to pay Louis-François a visit. One of her watches was broken
and needed to be fixed. Louis-François gladly took it off her
hands and managed to repair it for her. From then on, the princess bought
countless jewels from Cartier. It seemed that luck was finally
on Louis-François’ side. But within that same year, his’ luck
began to run out as quickly as it came in. One evening, a chef in the
restaurant below Cartier turned on the oven to start cooking. At that moment, an explosion erupted
with such force that the ceiling fell in. A gas leak had gone undetected and
the flames spread quickly, destroying Louis-François’ only three-year-old shop. In the aftermath, Louis-François
managed to have the shop restored but a fear of fire would haunt
him for the rest of his life. Over the coming years, Louis-François
remained careful of potential calamities but continued to seize new
and sometimes risky opportunities. When a well-known jeweler wanted
to retire, Louis-François made an offer to buy his business. The shop’s rent was astronomically
high but included a variety of items beyond jewels — leading to
Louis-François being sought out by the most noble woman in France. Empress Eugénie. Louis-François could have never
imagined that he, the son of a poor metalworker and laundress, would
ever be called upon by the empress. At the time, the empress was surely
the best jewelry buyer in the world. But unfortunately, she only
wanted to buy a silver tea set. Still, Louis-François would soon learn
that even a tiny purchase from the empress would greatly expand the business. Whoever she called
upon, others would seek. And it wasn’t long until Louis-François
would add more royals to his list of clients — within France and beyond. As the Cartier name became even more
well-known amongst high society, Louis-François’ son, Alfred, stepped
in to help with the family business. However, like his father, the
timing couldn’t have been worse. The Franco-Prussian war erupted
and Prussian forces seized Paris. Desperate to protect the business,
Louis-François hid all of his jewels and fled to San Sebastián, Spain. Meanwhile, Alfred remained in Paris
— even after necessities like food became so scarce that he sometimes
had to eat horsemeat, dogs, and rats. Eager to find another means to
survive, Alfred decided to risk traveling to London to sell gems
for a client in exchange for a cut. Fortunately, the mission was a success. From then on, Alfred was seen as a
trusted middleman between fellow French exiles who needed to sell their gems to
survive, and British aristocrats whose daily rituals required a change of jewels. Many were very grateful towards Alfred and
became some of his most important clients — helping Cartier earn an accolade as an
official supplier for the Court of St. James. Louis-François and Alfred then
realized that overseas business was the only way the Cartier name
could survive for years to come. It would take more than just
a father-son duo to succeed. It would take three brothers, a
secret pact, and taking vows in the name of love — and business. When Alfred returned to Paris,
Louis-François decided it was time for his son to take over Cartier. However, he didn’t simply
hand the business to him. Louis-François asked that Alfred pay
him 143,000 francs, believing it would make him appreciate the business more. Alfred willingly agreed. He even consented to an arranged
marriage with the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Alice Griffeuille. When the two married, Alfred was given
a dowry of 100,000 francs, more than doubling his net worth overnight. Over the next decade, Alfred
and Alice welcomed three sons: Louis, Pierre, and Jacques. As young as 18, 15, and 9, the
brothers understood the importance of expanding Cartier overseas. They also acknowledged that they had
something that their father never had. Each other. Together, they could conquer beyond
Paris and split up regions to create a prestigious jewelry empire. The brothers agreed that
Louis would take on Paris, the headquarters, and the rest of Europe. Pierre would take on the Americas
and Jacques Great Britain. Being the oldest sibling, it
only made sense that Louis would take on the most responsibility. However, he never expected that his
life would be used like a chess piece. Louis was forced to marry The
grandchild of the father of haute couture, Andrée-Caroline Worth. At the time, the Worths were regarded
as one of the leading couturiers in the world, while the Cartiers were
looked down on as mere tradesmen. Andrée-Caroline was a love child, so she
couldn’t marry into aristocratic circles. Knowing this, Alfred proposed
to her father, Jean-Phillips, that their children marry. Jean-Phillips was keen to have his
daughter marry a decent man and agreed. Louis begged his father to
call the wedding off butAlfred wouldn’t have any of it. “You need to think about the future
of the family and the business!” With no way out, Louis grudgingly
married Andrée-Caroline. After the wedding, Louis was
able to open a boutique using the money his father-in-law gave him. However, he didn’t sit back and get
comfortable off his newfound wealth. Instead, he and Alfred tried one
experiment after another in hopes of taking the business further. Making platinum, an incredibly
expensive and difficult to work with metal, support precious stones. At the time, platinum was an
industrial metal used in machinery. Still, Louis and Alfred couldn’t help
but imagine using it with jewelry after seeing how light and shiny it
looked on a vehicle and realizing it didn’t tarnish like silver. While the two were equally
determined, they failed over and over again to make it work. Refusing to give up, they
eventually found a way through making a form of hard platinum. It was strong enough to hold gems in place
and light enough to not weigh them down. When the Cartiers launched this
new design, they became the first jewelers to use platinum successfully. In the following years, Cartier
became known for experimenting with diverse materials and bold colors. Louis’ creative ingenuity was
credited for many of the new designs, especially the Santos-Dumont
that popularized the wristwatch. He was determined to fulfill the
pact he made with his brothers. But as Cartier was being
taken to new heights, Louis’ marriage was falling apart. Louis barely tried to make his
relationship work, even after becoming a father — pushing
his wife to file for divorce. While love was not in the cards for Louis,
his other brothers would have more luck. Pierre had found the perfect match
in a socialite and daughter of an American railroad tycoon, Elma Rumsey. When the two got married, Pierre
was able to move to New York and open a boutique on Fifth Avenue. And while he was seen as a mere
foreigner, his business savviness and Elma’s pedigree would change that. Before we get into the next part of
the story of how Pierre Cartier’s visionary changed the course of
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to investment: tread carefully. Nothing is risk-free. Knowing that many Americans had
never heard of Cartier, Pierre called a company that made telephone
directory cards for hotels and asked that they add his boutique. He also paid bellboys and waiters for
information on potential clients and then sent his salesmen to meet with them. Aside from clever sales tactics, Pierre
was a natural at knowing how to network. However, the opportunity to use
this talent would come through Elma. At dinners and charity events, Elma
introduced Pierre to New York’s elite — aristocrats, bankers, and businessmen. Before long, the Rockefellers,
Astors, and Vanderbilts all became Pierre’s friends and clients. As Louis focused on design and
Pierre on business, Jacques finished his apprenticeship in Paris and
took over the boutique in London. By then, Cartier had been awarded a
royal warrant by King Edward VII after making several tiaras for his coronation. “The jeweler of kings, and the king
of jewelers,” he would say of Cartier. In spite of Cartier’s growing reputation,
Jacques wasn’t very motivated to fulfill the pact he and his brothers made. He became more interested in religion than
diamonds and longed to become a priest. “You are part of the trinity,”
Louis and Pierre reminded him. “We need you.” Jacques didn’t need more convincing
after falling in love with a woman who was opposite him, Nelly Harjes. While the two didn’t mind
their differences, Nelly’s father, John Harjes, did. A partner at J.P. Morgan, John feared that a mere tradesmen
like Jacques was after his family fortune. But after much begging, John agreed to
let Nelly marry Jacques if they could go one year without seeing each other. To pass the time, Jacque gave
his all to the family business. He became an expert in gems and
traveled East toward the gem capital of the world, India. There, Jacques set out to buy and
sell jewels to potential clients. Some ignored and even
tricked the then 27-year-old. But fortunately, Jacque’s
integrity and expertise would eventually lead to gem dealers and
Maharajas becoming loyal clients. When Jacques returned home, he not
only had a list of commissions but ideas for new designs — inspired
by his deep appreciation for India. Even Louis, the creative genius
among the brothers, was impressed. Soon after, the Cartiers held an
exhibition to launch the new designs. It was a complete success and would mark
the start of Cartier taking inspiration from different cultures around the world. “Inspiration could and should be taken
from everywhere, except from existing jewelry,” Louis would often say. Over the next decades, the brothers
would accomplish their goal of turning Cartier into a prestigious jewelry empire. They continued to launch new designs
that transformed the industry and hire people that ensured Cartier
never ran out of original ideas. Most notably, creative
director, Jeanne Toussaint. The brothers would also continue
to remain the jeweler of choice for royalty, the elite, and celebrities
— helping the business survive the Great Depression and both World Wars. However, the brothers would
not be sheltered from other misfortunes and tragedies. When Louis suddenly passed away,
Jacques would too — only months later. Pierre stepped up to
run the business alone. But after he passed away, the
business would be sold to outsiders. Today, Cartier is owned by luxury
goods conglomerate, Richemont. And while it no longer has any
connections to the business, the name is recognized as being one of
the great dynasties in the world. Cartier’s products remain widely
known for its exquisite craftsmanship and achieve record prices time
and time again at auctions. As for the business, it now has more
than 200 boutiques across 60 countries and is worth more than $12 billion.
