Gem Pursuit: An Antique Jewellery Podcast

In part 3 of our sixth season Golden Girls, we jet off to Finland to meet Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm and learn about the life of one of the most one-of-a-kind jewellery designers in history, the wonderful Alma Pihl.

Ulla comes from a great jewellery family herself, her great-grandfather was St. Petersburg goldsmith Alexander Tillander, a supplier to the Russian imperial court, and she has been researching the oeuvre of the Russian jewelers for many years.

Ulla was so kind to welcome us to her summer cottage outside Helsinki where we chatted for hours about her life and works, and she gave us such a great insight into the incredible life of one of Fabergé's greatest yet shortlived jewellery careers.

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A Tape Deck podcast.

In Part 2 of our sixth season - Golden Girls - we go on another jaunt to Paris (yep that's two weeks in a row!) to find out all we can about the life of the incredible French designer Suzanne Belperron.

The life of Suzanne Belperron really does read like a Hollywood movie with secret love affairs, war, scandal, intrigue, mystery and heroism galore!

After a very quick pit stop at a shop window (typical) we make our way to meet Olivier Baroin, who is the world expert on the work of Suzanne Belperron, bar none. Olivier talks with us at length about his love for Belperron's work, how he can identify her (famously unsigned) pieces and finding her archive in 2008.

He also shares some unbelievable real life stories about the larger than life jewellery legend that is Suzanne Belperron.

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A Tape Deck podcast.

Gem Pursuit is back with season 6, Golden Girls - Unsung Heroines of Jewellery!

We jet off to Paris for our first excursion (of many) this season, to find out more about one of the first women to blaze a trail in the jewellery industry - Jeanne Toussaint! Appointed Director of Fine Jewellery by Louis Cartier in 1933, Jeanne Toussaint was the original Art Deco tastemaker who's incredible eye for style and beauty catapulted her to the top of the biggest jewellery house in the world.

We take a walk around an exhibit on the influence of Islamic Art on Cartier at the Musée Des Arts Decoratifs before visiting the Parisian office of Olivier Bachet, one of the world's foremost experts in the history of Cartier, about Jeanne Toussaint's early life, her controversial legacy, her relationship with Louis Cartier, her rivalry with the designer Charles Jacqueau and much, much more.

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A Tape Deck podcast.

After a short hiatus, we will be back with the sixth season of Gem Pursuit on Monday 20th June and we can't wait to share it with you!

Golden Girls: Unsung Heroines of Jewellery will shine a light and give props to some of the most underappreciated yet incredibly talented women who have had such a lasting impact on the jewellery world over the last 100 years.

We have a few surprises up our sleeve so make sure you click subscribe but in the mean time, here is a little preview of what we have in store this season...

Produced by Tape Deck

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In this Bonus Bank Holiday Special episode, we wanted to mark the recent passing of the founder of Courtville, Catherine "Kitten" Pierse by having a chat about the history of how Courtville began and how much of what was started by Kitten so long ago and continued by her daughter Gráinne has been carried through to what we at Courtville are all about today.

Producer: Ross Hannon

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Part VII - Religous Symbols

Our fifth season of Gem Pursuit feat. Matthew Weldon & Alyce Ketcher is called 'Treasured Tokens: the Secret Language of Jewellery'

In the final part of this series, we probably bite off a bit more than we can chew by trying to cover the topic of religious symbols in one hour-long podcast…

We mainly discuss symbols from Christianity such as the ichthus, the cross and where they show up in jewellery as well as other forms of christian jewellery like iconographic rings and St Christopher medals. 

We also touch on symbols from other world religions as well as some famous pieces that carry a religious meaning.

Listen to end for the conclusion of this season of Gem Trivial Pursuit…

Producer: Ross Hannon

Additional Research: Giulia Grasseschi

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Part VI - Serpents

Our fifth season of Gem Pursuit feat. Matthew Weldon & Alyce Ketcher is called 'Treasured Tokens: the Secret Language of Jewellery'

In the penultimate episode of this series, we take a look at the mysterious and often misunderstood symbol that is the serpent.

The snake has been an extremely popular motif in jewellery down through the centuries, partly because of the way it naturally coils around the body but also due to its complex and ambivalent symbolic signifiance.

We talk about the serpent in the story of Adam & Eve, René Lalique and the Art Nouveau movement, Sarah Bernhardt's Medusa headpiece, Diana Vreeland and of course Bulgari's Serpenti collection.

Listen to the end for Collector's Tips where we'll tell you what to look out for when you're buying your own pieces of serpent jewellery.

Producer: Ross Hannon

Additional Research: Giulia Grasseschi

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Part V - Mourning Motifs in Jewellery

Our fifth season of Gem Pursuit feat. Matthew Weldon & Alyce Ketcher is called 'Treasured Tokens: the Secret Language of Jewellery'

Long before the modern phrase 'YOLO' (you only live once) entered common parlance, a similar sentiment has been expressed since ancient times through the latin expression 'Memento Mori' which literally translates as 'remember that you (must) die'.

This episode will focus on how this expression, which has its roots in classical philosophy, had a major influence on art, architecture and of course jewellery through the centuries, culminating in a huge wave of popularity during the mourning period of the Victorian Era.

View our collection of mourning jewellery.

Producer: Ross Hannon

Additional Research: Giulia Grasseschi

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Part IV - Victorian Flower Language

Our fifth season of Gem Pursuit feat. Matthew Weldon & Alyce Ketcher is called 'Treasured Tokens: the Secret Language of Jewellery'

The Victorian period was a time when self-expression wasn't really advised so if you wanted to show somebody how you felt, you had to get creative.

One of the amazing ways they did this was by exchanging flowers that served as their own cryptic love language. And of course, this had a knock-on effect on the jewellery that was made in this period.

We break help you crack the code in this episode and tell you how to navigate the sophisticated landscape of Victorian flower jewellery.

Producer: Ross Hannon

Additional Research: Giulia Grasseschi

www.courtville.ie

#victorianera #victorianjewellery #history #gems

Part III - Symbols of the Sea in Jewellery

Our fifth season of Gem Pursuit feat. Matthew Weldon & Alyce Ketcher is called 'Treasured Tokens: the Secret Language of Jewellery'

In this episode we do a deep dive into the unknown and the unknowable deep blue ocean.

As always we talk about the origin and evolution of these motifs and then get our hands salty and briney as we sift through coral, anchors and shells, dodging jellyfish and turtles to find the real treasured tokens at the bottom of the sea.

As always we'll have great jewellery stories - this week featuring heavy hitters such as Jean Schlumberger, Fulco di Verdura, René Boivin and Salvador Dali.

Listen to the end for collector's tips and an even-more-controversial-than-usual edition of Gem Trivial Pursuit.

Producer: Ross Hannon

Additional Research: Giulia Grasseschi

www.courtville.ie