Cartier & Aldo Cipullo: New York City in the 70s

SJX's post from 2012 highlights a significant Cartier exhibition, "Cartier & Aldo Cipullo: New York City in the 70s," held at the Fifth Avenue flagship. This event celebrated the era's distinctive jewelry designs, particularly those by Aldo Cipullo, and underscored Cartier's enduring influence on luxury and culture during a pivotal decade.

Cartier recently opened the "Cartier & Aldo Cipullo: New York City in the 70s" exhibition in its flagship Fifth Ave store in New York. Over 40 Cartier items from the seventies as well as archive material will be on show. It runs from Apr 13 to May 8. Cipullo was Cartier's in-house designer in the late sixties and early seventies, who created the iconic Love bracelet as well as the nail bracelet.

- SJX

Press release:

This April, Cartier is pleased to present an exhibition titled Cartier & Aldo Cipullo, New York City in the 70s.

Curated and designed by Cartier in collaboration with Stefan Beckman, the exhibition will take place at the Cartier Mansion from April 13 through May 8. The exhibit will include approximately 40 jewels from the era as well as archival drawings, articles and scrapbooks. Videos and a touch screen wall where guests can interactively access various articles and images from the seventies will be part of the state-of-the-art display.

Cartier CEO Bernard Fornas  

Cartier & Aldo Cipullo, New York City in the 70s will take place on the 2nd floor of the Cartier Fifth Avenue Mansion from April 13 through May 8.  Tours will take place daily Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m.

Cartier-New York in the 1970s

Two events in 1969 set the tone for the next decade at Cartier in New York. In October the first diamond to sell for more than $1 million, a 69.42-carat pear-shape went from Cartier to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The sale made headlines—“Liz Gets That Peachy Pear”—and reminded the world of the exceptional gems the House purveyed. That same year, Cartier presented the instantly iconic 1969 Love bracelet designed by Aldo Cipullo.

The exhibition illustrates the excellence and creativity Cartier demonstrated throughout the 1970s beginning with the Taylor-Burton Diamond and the Love bracelet. In the early 1970s Michael Thomas, the firm’s energetic president, campaigned to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1970 to gain landmark status for the Cartier Fifth Avenue Mansion. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton entrusted Cartier with the special commission of a necklace for their historic 203.84-grain La Peregrina Pearl in 1972. It broke records as the most expensive item sold at the recent auction of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewels in New York City, and the original drawing of the necklace Cartier created will be on view in the exhibition. When Art Deco experienced a revival in the mid-seventies, Cartier staged two exhibitions at the Fifth Avenue flagship of its magnificent jewels and objects made during the Roaring Twenties. Cartier’s central role in the Jazz Age was underscored on screen when it bejeweled Mia Farrow and Lois Chiles for their roles in the 1974 remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby. Cartier, Aldo Cipullo and New York City in the 70s shares these moments of Cartier history in the making.