Few jewels have captured the imagination and enthusiasm of connoisseurs and collectors alike the Tutti-Frutti creations by Cartier. It was in occasion of Queen Victoria’s commission in 1901 that Cartier started to design Oriental style jewellery. The Queen called away the Parisian jewellers to her royal court to create an Indian necklace as a gift for her daughter-in-law, Queen Alexandra. This commission set forth the beginning not only of a long support from English royal court but also of Cartier’s journey in Oriental culture.
At a time when the coronation of George V and Queen Mary was being celebrated at the Delhi Durbar, and accompanied by Maurice Richard, the Parisian maison’s pearls expert, Jacques Cartier was the first of the family to trip to India in 1911 in an effort to establish Cartier's reputation among the Indian elite. He first grew enamoured of Indian jewels at the turn of the 19th century. As the director of Cartier London, he was exposed to the lavish jewels of the Indian princes who often visited Britain. This Indian journey had a profound effect on the jewels produced by the firm throughout the 1920s and 30s and indirectly affected the entire field of jewellery design which Cartier so strongly influenced. Alongside the rather severe, geometric Art Deco style, mainly executed in diamonds, Cartier produced vibrant Tutti Frutti jewels, full of colour and flowing naturalistic design. Named as Hindu Jewels and then, in 1970s, Tutti Frutti, this iconic design owes its fame to the carved gems, where rubies, sapphires and emeralds cut as leaves and blossoms rule the roost. The incorporation of Indian influences and gemstones into jewels was one of Cartier's greatest innovations in the Art Deco period.