Cartier pursues the essential through design. The art of its compositions lies wholly in the exactness of the proportions and the precision of the lines. The purity of shapes is determined by rigor and balance. A combination of gems and an interplay of stone cuts structure the design, setting a rhythm and revealing the composition’s power of abstraction. The vibrant movement and rhythm conveyed to a piece allows to interpret natural phenomena like water as it flows and ripples or smoke floating into the sky.

Emblematic of Cartier’s repertoire of shapes, spheres amplify the volume of a design. Colored stones or gold beads emphasize the architectural dimension of jewelry, revealing an unexpected power to evoke everything from industrial forms to delectable berries.

One of the most important themes in jewelry design is volume, something upon which Cartier continually elaborates. Architectural forms and details representative of every era have inspired structural elements of Cartier jewelry: for instance, the 1920s Art Deco interior design, the high-rise buildings towering over urban space, or the organic and curved shapes found in archicture today. Jewelry can resemble architecture in miniature, an actual scaled down construction made of precious materials.

Cartier has long pursued the theme of motion in its designs. How is jewelry freed from stasis and imbued with a sense of movement and play? Cartier has answered these questions with visual effects borrowed from kinetic art. Designs that skillfully utilize geometric forms, mirror-like structures, and contrasting colors generate optical illusions and impart a sense of motion to the viewer. This search for movement has led Cartier to create a series of playful jewelry pieces, composed with articulated elements that move with the finger or wrist of the wearer. Light and transparency is another standpoint from which we can analyze visual effects in Cartier designs, created notably by the use of rock crystal.

Even accidents serve as an impetus for the design of Cartier creations, such as a watch wraped in a car crash. The accident can actually be provoked by the designer in the interplay of proportions or dissymmetry, in order to find the balancing point where disorder becomes beauty. Accidents can also happen in gemstones, whose unique and unexpected shapes and colors can serve as the starting point for a design.

Cartier's quest for beauty continues ven to objects from everyday life, industrial goods, and other items rarely seen as connected with the world of jewelry. They are separated from their original functions and given new and unconventional interpretations. The hidden charm of objects such as nails, screws, pipes, or belt buckles, ribbons and buttons can find its interpretation in a unique piece of jewelry.