At Cartier, high jewellery is not simply designed—it is questioned, tested, and patiently brought into being. At the heart of this process is Alexa Abitbol, head of the maison’s High Jewellery Workshops, whose role sits at the intersection of industrial rigour and deeply human craft. Trained as an industrial engineer and previously immersed in automotive supply chains, Abitbol has spent the past 13 years shaping Cartier’s high jewellery from within—overseeing not only how pieces are made, but how time, emotion, and knowledge are passed on. Speaking from the Paris ateliers, she reflects on why everything begins with the stone, why the hand remains irreplaceable, and why safeguarding excellence is, above all, a question of transmission.
GRAZIA Singapore (GS): You began your career in industrial engineering and automotive supply chains. What drew you to high jewellery—and to Cartier?
Alexa Abitbol (AA): It’s a very good question. I think what really drew me from an industrial background into this world—especially the world of high jewellery—was my desire to be closer to the product. Working in the automotive industry is very interesting, particularly from a supply-chain perspective. But at a certain moment, I felt the need to work with objects that carried emotion—to really feel something in what I was working on. When I began speaking with Cartier, I understood very, very quickly that the product would speak to me here—especially at this level of technical excellence. And in fact, my supply-chain background turned out to be extremely useful. In the workshop, I rely on everything I learnt before—processes, flows, planning—but adapted to the specificity of jewellery. A high jewellery piece is never linear. One part might be in setting, another in polishing, another in lapidary, and then everything comes together again. Managing that isn’t magic—it requires rigour, logistics, and time management. But all of that exists in service of craft.
GS: At Cartier, you often say that “everything starts with the stone”. What does that really mean?
AA: Yes—everything starts with the stone. But more precisely, it starts with the search for the stone. Three experts always travel together: the designer, the gemstone expert, and the buyer. The stone has to speak creatively to the designer, meet Cartier’s quality and integrity criteria, and be acquired responsibly. When the stones come back to Paris, there is almost a ceremonial moment. Designers gather around a very large table covered in stones. They look, they touch, they feel. When a stone speaks to them, they select it—and only then does the drawing begin. The designer doesn’t impose an idea. They draw the stone first, and then build the structure around it, according to the theme of the collection. The proportions, the balance, the entire architecture of the piece—all of it is guided by the stone. The jewel exists to honour it.
GS: Despite technological advances, Cartier still sculpts many designs by hand in clay and wax. Why is that physical step so important?
AA: We are not closed to technology at all. We use it—but only when it serves the right purpose. Digital tools are very useful for pieces with strong geometric aspect, or when extreme precision is required. But for anything organic—fauna, flora, movement—we want sculpture to remain at the heart of the process.
Our sculptors work very closely with designers to understand not only what is drawn, but what is not said. The intention, the expression, the movement. A two-dimensional drawing can’t fully express that on its own. That dialogue between designer and sculptor is where emotion enters the piece. And that is something the hand cannot be replaced for.
GS: You’ve said that stone placement must remain a task for artisans, rather than algorithms. Why?
AA: Because here, precision is not the objective—emotion is. A machine can be perfectly precise, of course. But when it comes to stone placement, the hand introduces tiny variations. On their own, you might call them imperfections—but they balance one another. Your eye may not consciously see them, but your heart feels them. The artisan’s hand carries experience, memory, and an understanding of Cartier’s culture—its history, its codes, its standards. All of that comes together in a way that cannot be programmed.
GS: Many of Cartier’s métiers—such as glyptics and purse-stringing—are now extremely rare. Why is preserving them so important?
AA: Because they are part of our history—but also part of France’s cultural heritage. It would be a great loss to see them disappear, especially when we see how deeply clients respond to them. Take glyptics, for example—the art of engraving gemstones. Very few people practise it today. At Cartier, we produce around 15 glyptic pieces a year, simply because there are so few artisans who can do this work. Purse-stringing is similar. For almost ten years, we had only one specialist. Training someone new takes five to ten years. But for us, preserving these crafts is not a question—it’s fundamental. Transmission is our responsibility.
GS: How has working so closely with artisans shaped your own philosophy as a leader?
AA: Patience—above all. Excellence is built stone by stone. You have to invest a lot of time at the beginning if you want to succeed in the end. In a world where everything moves faster and faster, the workshop teaches balance. It reminds you that some things need time to unfold properly.
GS: Looking ahead, how do you hope to shape the future of Cartier high jewellery?
AA: Everything comes back to transmission. Training young people, preserving traditional savoir-faire, and preparing for growth—without ever compromising how we work. Demand for high jewellery is growing, and that’s wonderful. But our responsibility is to meet it with integrity. That means investing in people, time, and tradition. High jewellery should never feel rushed. It must always carry emotion.
This story originally appeared in the May 2026 issue of GRAZIA Singapore.
READ MORE
