Tigers, Crocs And A Diamond Panther: Cartier’s Into The Wild Hits Singapore
For five days, the maison takes over two heritage houses with its new animal jewellery, a tea inspired by the jungle canopy and a sound session. Here’s how to get in, and what to look for when you do.
Set with onyx spikes and green chrysoprase, Cartier’s new crocodile bracelet and necklace bite down on their own clasps.
The world of high-end jewellery can seem exclusive to the point of intimidating – a realm only for those who know their pave from their galuchat, and shop appointment-only. Cartier’s Into the Wild, which takes over two heritage houses at 17 Rochester Park from Oct 21 to 25, opens those doors. It’s open to the public. All you need is a registration slot.
What’s happening at Rochester Park
The Panthere de Cartier bracelet in yellow gold, with lacquered spots and tsavorite garnet eyes, and a matching ring, is part of the maison’s latest Into The Wild showcase.
This isn’t just a walk past glass cases. Into the Wild covers everything Cartier makes (fine jewellery and high jewellery, watches, leather goods, accessories and fragrance), with insight into the house’s workshop techniques revealed along the way. Then there’s the hospitality: a tea experience inspired by the jungle canopy, and a sound session that evokes the natural world behind Cartier’s animal designs
It’s the second time the event has come to Singapore. The first Into the Wild, at Gardens by the Bay’s Bayfront Pavilion in 2022, was all about the panther. This edition widens the lens to the rest of the menagerie.
Why the panther still runs the show
The panther has been Cartier’s signature animal since the ’30s, when Jeanne Touissant became its jewellery director. This Panthere de Cartier necklace and earrings are in rose gold with diamonds, emeralds, onyx and obsidian.
Cartier has been making animal jewellery since the early 20th century: birds and insects first, then reptiles, big cats and mythical chimeras. The panther is the one that has reigned supreme. She first appeared as a fully three-dimensional sculpture in 1948 in a brooch made for the Duchess of Windsor under Jeanne Toussaint, the house creative director whose nickname was “La Panthere”. Nearly eight decades on, she’s still one of the brand’s best-known signatures.
This season she has company, and a new face to go with it: Tilda Swinton, Cartier’s latest ambassador, fronts the campaign for the new animal pieces. The singular actress is a fitting choice given the concept behind the collection. As Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s director of image, style and heritage, explains in the collection notes: Each creature “reflects an attitude, a personality trait or a state of mind. It becomes an opportunity to deliver a message about yourself.”
The pieces to see
Ahead of the opening of Cartier’s latest Into The Wild showcase here, we highlight the pieces that make a visit worthwhile.
THE TIGER BRACELET AND NECKLACE
The tiger’s stripes are cut from dumortierite quartz, and its body is lined with chalcedony beads, each studded with a sapphire.
The tiger’s head is the clasp. Its jaws hide the opening mechanism, which Cartier specially developed so that nothing breaks the line of the bracelet. The head is paved in sapphires and diamonds, with the diamonds in Cartier’s galuchat effect, a setting pattern named and designed after shagreen (read: the grainy skin of stingrays). The stripes are recreated with dumortierite quartz (a rare quartz with beautiful blue inclusions) and the eyes are aquamarine.
Connected seamlessly is an abstract interpretation of the tiger’s body: a fully articulated run of dumortierite quartz and sapphires on moveable white gold links, punctuated by chalcedony beads, each studded with a sapphire.
THE CROCODILE BRACELET AND NECKLACE
The crocodile’s head hides the clasp: Its jaws are fitted with a system Cartier developed specially for this piece.
If the tiger is stately, the crocodile is punk. Its head, sculpted close to real anatomy and covered in geometric diamond scales, bites down on the back of the bracelet, with the clasp built into its mouth. A crest of onyx spikes runs along the top. Cartier counts spikes among its house codes, and anyone who has seen the Clash de Cartier collection will recognise them.
The body of both the necklace and bracelets is built for movement: a fully articulated wave of diamonds in an inverted setting, broken up with onyx and edged in green chrysoprase and pink rubellite. Fun fact: The combination of white, green and black is one of Cartier’s classics, but here it looks refreshingly youthful.
THE PANTHERE JEWELLERY WATCH
The stunning Panthere jewellery watch borrows from cameo carving.
This one comes from Cartier’s Maison des Metiers d’Art in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the house’s workshop for rare crafts such as enamel and marquetry. The medallion-shaped watch borrows from cameo carving: The panther is sculpted in the round on the dial, and calls for the savoir faire of three specialists. The designer draws her form. The gem-setter cuts away metal to make room for stones: tsavorite garnets for the eyes, onyx for the nose and dial, and diamonds on the four lugs and the bezel. The lacquerer adds the spots, inspired by vintage Cartier pieces.
THE FAUNE & FLORE DE CARTIER ANIMAL HEAD RINGS
Clockwise from bottom left: Tiger, carp, rhinoceros, parrot and crocodile – the five Faune & Flore de Cartier rings.
Five rings, five heads: tiger, parrot, carp, crocodile and rhinoceros, each one bold on volume and colour contrast – a design MO synonymous with Cartier. The parrot, for example, sports a mix of coral and tsavorite garnets, while the carp – like the tiger – comes in sapphire, aquamarine and dumortierite quartz.
The details call for a close look. Take the rhino, which is crafted from white gold that’s been hand-brushed to achieve a colour close to the real hide, and decorated with horns hand-carved from opalescent smoky quartz for a softer look.
THE PANTHERE DE CARTIER SET
Meet the snow panther of Into The Wild: a tete-a-tete bracelet and earrings in white gold, paved in diamonds and with emeralds for eyes.
This is the house cat, iced out. The tete-a-tete bracelet featuring two panther heads facing each other across the opening comes in white gold and is fully paved and spotted with geometric-cut diamonds. Cartier’s artisans alternate galuchat-effect paving in assorted diamond sizes with caviar paving to keep light moving across the surface. The eyes are made of emerald and ringed in fur setting, a Cartier signature in which the setter raises fine grains of metal around a stone so it mimics the texture of fur.
The event details to know
- What: Cartier Into the Wild, an immersive experience open to the public
- When: Oct 21 to 25, 2026, 11am to 7.30pm
- Where: 17 Rochester Park, Singapore 139228
- Entry: Slots are limited and advance registration is mandatory via this link.