BONDED LOVE, From Cartier

Italian born jewelry designer Aldo Cipullo was new to New York City in the late 60’s, as he was suffering through a bad breakup. To recover, Cipullo turned his attention to his sketches of rings, necklaces and bracelets that many times contained small industrial nuances he found while walking through a local hardware store on the weekends.Cipullo was fascinated by the head of a screw, the shape of a hammer, the fluidity of a hose and the strength of a bolt, all which were inspiration for jewelry statements he hoped to create.

He began to center this focus on a bracelet that provided the opportunity to be worn by both sexes but also represented something of a bond between the couples he hoped would wear it. He wanted to create something that could not be taken away. Something he never wanted to lose again: LOVE. Using the head of a screw to ‘fasten’ the bracelet together was to Cipullo, a way to “lock” the love for one another around the wrist.

Cipullo knew he had designed something “forever” when he found a willing customer in Cartier’s US President, Michael Thomas, who at the time ran the New York Cartier Mansion on 5th Avenue as a separate entity from the famous French Jollier. (In 1979 The New York and London outposts became part of Cartier Paris).

Initially offered only as a set and with an included precious metal, perfectly crafted screwdriver, the Love Bracelet immediately found a celebrity couple following. Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and The Duke and Duchess of Windsor wore the creation together to show their undeniable love for each other.The design grew to become an iconic motif for Cartier as Cipullo expanded the offering for Cartier worldwide into rings earrings and more bracelets in 3 shades of gold, some with diamonds and then finally in 2009, when Cartier released a 100-year anniversary collection of the Love Bracelet adorned with colorful stones. This powerful design is one of Cartier’s most important collections and is offered in variations of gold, diamonds and precious stones.

The popularity of the item makes it a fashion focus where it is very common for women to “stack” the bracelet in different varieties on their wrists, thus assembling a cuff look worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Love Bracelet has become so popular that French hospitals keep a sleek Cartier screwdriver on hand in case an incoming patient needs emergency surgery, and TSA agents worldwide, knowing of the intricate process to remove them from the wrist, now ignore the detection they may cause by first class passengers.The bracelets have a slight oval shape which helps it to lay flat on the wrist making it comfort-able and easy to wear alone or as a compliment to a beautiful gold, two-toned or diamond watch.Once fastened to the wrist via intricately threaded gold screws, the owner must keep the precious screwdriver in their jewelry box and at the ready or perhaps ignore anyway to remove the piece while enjoying it forever. Very likely what Cipullo intended them to do from the very beginning.

Claire-Marie Schkéve is a historian and writer who lives in Paris, France. She has written pieces on The Hermes Scarf, The Louis Vuitton Trunk, and The Macarons of Paris, amongst other well-known luxury French items. Married for 35 years to her husband Hubert, she owns two Love Bracelets. Tres Bon!