The Cartier Libre series subverts design conventions and breaks through creative boundaries. Every year, the Cartier Creative Studio freely expresses its creativity and presents bold and bold limited edition works inspired by new materials. A special exhibition of the Cartier Libre creative jewelry series will be held on the 4th floor of the Cartier 101 flagship store from September 25th to October 1st. You are invited to explore together and appreciate a new chapter of exquisite craftsmanship in person.

The Cartier Libre series explores shape and design, challenges existing craftsmanship, and relentlessly pursues innovation. These creative explorations adhere to Cartier’s long tradition of curiosity and unleash unconstrained ideas to create a series of masterpieces.
The clean-cut pieces push the envelope and present new perspectives on line, three-dimensionality, contrasting design and flexibility. Following the new and unique watch shape, the Cartier Libre series opens up the exploration of the jewelry field and the brand's classic creative themes, creates cross-sector concepts, and explores endless creative possibilities with the same enthusiasm.

Tressage jewelry series—natural beauty

The Cartier Libre series opens a new chapter and launches the Tressage series, which brings together three major aesthetic elements, reinterpreting gold art, shape and contrasting design. These iconic brand style elements come from the influence of Jeanne Toussaint. A pioneer for women, she served as Cartier's creative director since 1933. Her creative ideas and extraordinary taste infuse Cartier with a unique and personal style.
Under her initiative, the works allow people to fully experience the beauty. The beads are stacked into a movable structure, rolling gently on the skin and vibrating slightly with the friction of the fingertips. The slender hand is adorned with a precious and charming cocktail ring. Gold is everywhere, whether polished, rounded or woven, it is rich and gorgeous. Jean Toussaint is constantly exploring the field of gold, combining gold materials with novel color combinations, such as turquoise and coral. As time goes by, this creative freedom has only increased, becoming an essence of Cartier style. The Tressage series bears the distinct imprint of this creative style.

Gold bead chains and luxurious bead strings

Caption: Cartier Libre Tressage gold bead ring, yellow gold.
The rich gold jewelry rings and bracelets shine with dazzling golden light. A series of precious works with jingling sounds, made of a large number of K gold beads, which are delicate and charming to the touch, creating a wonderful touch on the skin. As early as Jeanne Toussaint's period, K gold beads have been Cartier's iconic styling element, and they also shine in the Paris Nouvelle Vague series.
The new collection challenges jewelers to create the illusion of a continuous chain of beads winding around itself, thereby constructing three-dimensional jewellery. The craftsmen succeeded in achieving this visual effect: they used a large number of bead strings composed of moving gold beads of different sizes to create a harmonious visual effect. The beads are assembled one by one on a metal structure decorated with chain ornaments carefully installed by master jewelers to adjust the beads to the lines of the design.

High-strength material

Caption: Cartier Libre Tressage Obsidian Ring, platinum, obsidian, diamonds.

Cartier breaks through the surface and transforms hard materials such as gold and gemstones into soft and vital shapes, as if breaking free from the constraints of delicate thin chains. The gorgeous transformation of this jewelry is based on the brand's fashion elements-circular decoration, three-dimensional shapes and gemstone craftsmanship, creating three jewelry worlds, each consisting of a bracelet and a cocktail ring.​
Caption: Cartier Libre Tressage diamond bracelets and rings, yellow gold, platinum, diamonds.
The first is Cartier’s cherished precious metal yellow K gold, decorated with circular patterns and shining brightly. The jewelery master overcomes the double limitations of yellow gold, including its own regular grooves and the thin diamond-paved chain that binds it, thereby highlighting the three-dimensional shape.
Obsidian shines with a unique iridescent light thanks to the gold foil embellished on it, which contrasts beautifully with the brown ground. The cabochon cut makes the satin-like iridescent golden light that lingers inside and outside the material even more dazzling. The thin chain wrapped around the gem seems unable to restrain this precious magma. The surging undercurrent tries its best to break through the restraints, spread and release itself. Tensile materials such as yellow gold, metamorphic quartzite and obsidian are decorated with thin platinum chains, set with brilliant diamonds with inverted pavilions. This inlay technique enhances the visual impression of the thin chain subtly reversing itself, spiraling around itself. Achieve aesthetic design with technology.

Guilloche-shaped chain of coral, diamonds and gold

Caption: Cartier Libre Tressage coral ring, rose gold, coral, diamonds.
The color combination of K gold, diamonds and coral continues the color heritage of Jeanne Toussaint. Cartier cleverly uses the optical illusion effect to interpret this classic color scheme, creating rings and bracelets. The guilloche pattern that wraps around the wrist or lingers between the fingers is actually the result of a strong trompe l'oeil illusion. Master craftsmen must meticulously assemble a series of metal elements to form a pattern. Gemstone craftsmen cut the coral into cabochons by setting them and then cutting them. Since coral is fragile and can be destroyed if you are not careful, the cutting process must be meticulous.
The transformation of gemstones relies on the exquisite craftsmanship of the jewelery masters of Cartier workshops, who adjust their techniques according to the constraints of the design: the traditional grain bead setting process is used between the diamonds, and the paved diamonds on both sides of the bead string use double wire setting process. In addition, the concave and convex grain inlay process using a carving knife, also known as the "swallowtail" process, is used to give the end stones a visual effect of breaking free from restraints.