✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Kids
  • Benefits
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Benefits
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Design

Review: Cartier in Motion, The Design Museum ★★★★★

25 May 17 – 28 Jul 17, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Cartier takes flight at the recently renovated Design Museum with a new exhibition exploring the luxury designer's legacy over the past 100 years

By CW Contributor on 27/7/2017

1 CW reader is interested
Review: Cartier in Motion, The Design Museum [STAR:4]
Review: Cartier in Motion, The Design Museum [STAR:4]
Review: Cartier in Motion, The Design Museum 4 Review: Cartier in Motion, The Design Museum Elise Chabason
The black walls, red velour carpet and myriad black and white photographs of stage and screen stars evoke the faded elegance of a bygone age. On display is an Eiffel Tower, and the actual-size replica of the aeroplane of Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. The stage is certainly set to evoke Paris at the turn of the 20th century.


Curated by British 'starchitect' Sir Norman Foster, Cartier in Motion traces, in six main sections, Cartier's design trajectory and its links with the history of aviation and architecture from the early 20th century to the present.


TRY CULTURE WHISPER
Receive free tickets & insider tips to unlock the best of London — direct to your inbox
Louis Cartier, grandson of the founder of the luxury jewellery and watchmaking firm, Louis François Cartier, is undoubtedly the star of the show. That said, the pioneering figures that shaped Cartier's career – in particular Santos-Dumont, for whom Cartier designed one of the world’s first wristwatches, and the celebrated engineer, Gustave Eiffel, whose geometric designs for his tower would influence the design of Cartier's Tank watches – feature throughout. It's the profound influence of the trio's designs on each other's work that threads together this exhibition.




Cartier in Motion Exhibition, the Design Museum. Image courtesy of Culture Whisper


Inspired by the changing face of Paris and the new century's emphasis on motion, speed and flight, Cartier revolutionised the brand's aesthetic. He abandoned the Art Nouveau style, in vogue at the turn of the century, for a cleaner, simpler aesthetic evoking the geometric lines of Hausmannian Paris and the recently-built Eiffel Tower.


The exhibition includes more than 170 objects, predominantly from the Cartier archive from the very earliest wristwatches, including The Santos, designed in 1904, to the spot-lit, diamond-encrusted tiaras and gold-leaf cigarette cases from the firm's later years.


If Cartier's rich and famous patrons are more the order of the day, however, then you can see the original prints of Rudolph Valentino wearing the original Cartier Tank in the 1926 film The Son of the Sheik and fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent wearing the first Tank Must in 1977.




Cartier in Motion, Yves Saint Laurent. Image courtesy of Culture Whisper


While Cartier was renowned first and foremost for its elegant watches and jewellery, the rise in commercial travel at the dawn of the 20th century saw the birth of the Cartier luxury travel accessory. A new Cartier era had dawned. Look out for the delicately embossed Cartier luggage, cigar cases, and silver and gold travelling desk sets nestled amongst the watches half-way through the exhibition.


But beyond the object lies the craftsman and his workshop. Renowned the world over for exceptional craftsmanship, meticulous attention to detail and unparalleled material excellence, Cartier's quest for perfection shines bright. Celebrating the brand's artistry in manufacture, the final chapter showcases a workman's bench garnished with his tools, the complex mechanisms at the heart of their watches, and an insight into the modern-day Cartier manufacturing centre at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.


It's an intimate, glamorous and utterly captivating show – well worth heading to Kensington for.


What Review: Cartier in Motion, The Design Museum
Where Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, Kensington, London, W8 6AG | MAP
Nearest tube High Street Kensington (underground)
When 25 May 17 – 28 Jul 17, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Price £free
Website Click here for more information



Most popular

Culture to see you through the weekend
Things to do in London this weekend: 22 - 24 January
Olly Alexander in It's A Sin, Channel 4 (Photo: Channel 4)
It's A Sin, Channel 4 review
Jessie Buckley in I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)
Oscars 2021 predictions: what will be nominated?

Editor's Picks

Best exhibitions on in London, May highlights
Best exhibitions on in London, May highlights
Dovima with Sacha, cloche and suit by Balenciaga, Café des Deux Magots, Paris, 1955. Photograph by Richard Avedon © The Richard Avedon Foundation
Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion at the V&A - an exclusive insight
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Orée, Kensington High Street

    Calling all Francophiles. Indulge in heavenly breads and delicate tartines at Orée, the French bakery with three sites in Kensington and Chelsea. There are plenty of culinary treats on offer here to satisfy both your sweet and savoury cravings.

    Book Map
1

exhibition

design

You might like

  • Review: California: Designing Freedom, Design Museum [STAR:4]

    Review: California: Designing Freedom, Design Museum ★★★★★

  • Clerkenwell Design Week: NORR11 showroom

    Clerkenwell Design Week 2019

  • A Case of Mistaken Identity, LFA, 2018

    London Festival of Architecture 2019



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×