Credit Cartier
For one weekend only, in celebration of European Heritage Days, Cartier opens the doors of its Jewlery Institute in Paris to the public. This September 16th and 17th, the public is invited to discover the craftsmanship of one of France’s most coveted high jewelry houses. Opened in 2022, an 18th century maison serves as a training hub for 150 craft artisans each year—of 340 who are working in France across all jewelry making expertise.
Guests are invited to start their discovery of the Institute’s three floors with a virtual reality immersion explaining diamonds, colored gems, and gem setting. Throughout the tour, exceptionally, for this second edition, young people who are considering these artisanal professions have an opportunity to speak with the artisans, see the métier, and ask questions on their vast, decades-long experience. Explore the techniques in gem-cutting, mounting, pearl threading, and polishing, and other undisclosed techniques like glyptics and casting.
Preservation, training, and transmission of skills are also furthered through technology like digital design. In that vein, last year, Cartier co-created the very first Digital Bachelor’s Degree with the Haute Ecole de Joaillerie (HEJ). Today, many skills are learned in-house with training of future artisans lasting years. 50 work-study students and interns are trained each year with Cartier hiring twice as many this year alone. Cartier.com
