C’était magnifique!

As soon as we learned the Cartier Exhibition was heading to Melbourne, we organised our trip and made it happen. My sister absolutely adores jewels and gems, so we knew it would be a perfect opportunity to go and celebrate her birthday surrounded by these gorgeous Cartier pieces.

So, on day 3 of our little trip south, we headed to the National Gallery of Victoria to see the magnificent creations for ourselves. We’ve been to the NGV a few times now to visit various exhibitions, most recently in January this year to see the Vivienne Westwood and Kawakubo collection, but also to see the Alexander McQueen exhibition a few years back. It’s always a fantastic experience, and I love how well they display everything.

I really don’t have much to say about this one except that it was amazing! These exhibitions are always planned so well, with rooms organised and dedicated to different eras or styles of creation. The Cartier brand has been around since it was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier. However, it was his three sons, Louis, Pierre and Jacques who fostered the house into the worldwide brand we know today.

The exhibitions is an art pieces of its own, set up for you to walk through rooms filled with display cases, artworks, photographs, short films and information sections that take you through the story of Cartier. This collection boasted a number of truly priceless jewels, necklaces, rings, trinkets and tiaras from both Cartier and personal archives.

You could spend hours looking at each piece, or listening to the short films of crafts-people describing how each technique is learned and used or reading through the descriptions.

We went early in the morning, when the gallery opens at 10am, though to be honest, I found it a little overwhelming. There were so many people inside every room, and there was more than a little elbowing and standing in the way. I was a little shocked by how inconsiderate some people were, moving to stand right in front of me as I went to snap a quick picture. I suppose that’s the price you pay for being in public spaces, but I had hoped people would be a little more cooperative.

We bought one of the Cartier books too, with all the pieces photographed and written about in even more detail. Usually we don’t collect these, but this one is a must. The close-up images and detailed entries give even more life to these stunning creations.

Anyway, enough waffle from me! Whether you’ve been before and want to relive the exhibition, whether you are still waiting to attend or whether you won’t be able to get there, here’s some of those pictures I was talking about! Sit back and enjoy the scroll…

Cartier Tiaras

And this wasn’t even half of it! I mean, if you haven’t already booked your tickets, what are you doing?

The exhibition is here until the 4th of October, so you have less than a month to get in. You won’t regret it.

Until next time! x