Jewellery’s most enduring symbol of love just became lighter, softer, stronger

Love resists definition and labels. The red roses wither, the intimate date nights fade, and those whispers of sweet nothings in your beloved’s ears dissolve into memories. Instead, love demands a promise of eternity. Jewellery has long been the ultimate symbol of eternal love. Jewels are known to endure, quietly translating what words and gestures cannot. Cartier continues to embrace this rare ability to turn sentiment into something tangible and wearable. For over five decades, Cartier’s LOVE bracelet has been the protagonist of the brand’s design language. Launched in 1969 by Aldo Cipullo, the bracelet may have undergone several reiterations over the years, but the emotion endures. This time, Cartier has introduced a new chapter to this iconic design—LOVE Unlimited, a flexible masterpiece that celebrates love without limit.

Available as a bracelet or a ring, the LOVE Unlimited design is a true feat of innovation that’s equal parts ergonomic, elegant, and intensely precious. The collection reimagines the rigid, iconic form into a supple, second-skin sensation. Cartier has devised an invisible clasp system, which is pending patent, to ease the process of wearing this flexible and radiant piece of jewellery. The clasp is functional as it is symbolic, allowing two bracelets to connect, multiply, or endlessly extend, reinforcing the notion of love as an ongoing, shared experience.

Operated by a screw, it integrates perfectly with the bracelet, literally fusing with it. All you can see is a ribbon of gold made of 200 specially miniaturised components, guaranteeing comfort and suppleness when worn. This transformation was no small feat: Cartier’s manufacturers and design studios refined the original concept through over a hundred prototypes, engineering a flexible masterpiece.

Cartier extends this aesthetic into rings that capture the bracelet’s essence on a smaller scale, mirroring its gadroons, sparkle, and sophisticated elegance. The rings replicate the ribbed details of the bracelet, and like the bracelet, these also come in either white, rose, or yellow gold.

This ode to love, stems from Cartier’s deep desire to express one’s feelings beyond words, and designer Aldo Cipullo is the protagonist of this tale. The veritable jewellery manifesto imagined by Cipullo for Cartier NewYork introduced a radical and innovative design change by leaving the bracelet screws visible. It soon became the subject of an emblematic advertisement featuring the hands of a woman and a man, each wearing their LOVE, which was published in the major NewYork newspapers.

The bracelet is no stranger to being a celebrity favourite. From gifting pairs of the bracelet to 25 famous couples in its debut year, to today, coveted by icons like Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kylie Jenner, Sarah Jessica Parker and more—this celebrity roster is proof of the jewel’s popularity. Today, the design not only serves as an easy alternative to engagement rings, but it has also made its mark as a statement of everyday wear jewellery. Its simple, unisex, and identifiable design allows it to evolve in every way: set with diamonds, in a ring version, small, medium, as a pendant or dotted with stones, in white gold, multiplied by two or more. Yet its essential character remained unchanged: rigid, oval, requiring that screwdriver to open and close.

With LOVE Unlimited, Cartier has reinvented a new symbolic gesture that cultivates the same ideal of love as the original LOVE bracelet. The Maison has reimagined an icon, keeping its distinctive details intact while making it easier, lighter, and more versatile to wear. The brand, once again, succeeds in adding another bracelet to our stacks—one that is precious and exclusive enough to be called a sensation.

Lead image: LOVE Unlimited bracelets and rings by Cartier

This article first appeared in the October print issue of Harper's Bazaar India.

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