When Jacques Cartier arrived in Bahrain in 1912 his task was a simple one: find a way to source the best pearls.
He was one of three brothers that would turn what was then a small Parisian jewellery shop into the global luxury brand we know today.
And one way to do this was to become known as importers of natural pearls.
At the time, pearls were so rare that people desired them even more than diamonds, and those from the Arabian Gulf, and Bahrain chiefly, were particularly prized.
“We think of Cartier as a jeweller,” Francesca Cartier Brickell told The National.
“Back then it was more important for them to be known as a pearl importer than a jeweller, which I think is extraordinary. A pearl necklace had the same value as a Rembrandt painting.”
Ms Cartier Brickell, a direct descendant of the Cartier family, has just returned from Bahrain where she retraced her great-grandfather’s footsteps there 110 years ago. She is also the author of The Cartiers, a 2019 book about the company that focuses on the three brothers ― Louis, Pierre and Jacques.
Louis is often credited as being the creative genius who propelled Cartier to international fame; Pierre was the master dealmaker; but Jacques’ globe-trotting adventures in the Middle East and Asia were also crucial to Cartier's success. And his 1912 visit would go far beyond this original mission to simply establish a supply line.
Jacques, then in his 20s, set off from his London base in 1911. First he sailed to India to meet the maharajas, make contacts and find out where he could buy the finest gemstones.
His contacts with India were important. Cartier sourced gemstones from there and conducted lucrative business with the maharajas, while Cartier's famed “tutti frutti” creations ― sapphires, rubies and emeralds sculpted in the shape of leaves, buds and berries ― were inspired by India.
But Jacques was also instructed by his elder brother Louis to visit Bahrain to find out how the company could directly source pearls. It was a time when natural pearls were sought after by the world’s royals, business tycoons and elite. Cartier's townhouse in New York was bought with pearls, while the Britain's Queen Elizabeth II received Bahraini pearls as wedding gifts.
The brand was also beloved by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly and Coco Chanel.
Bahrain in 1912 was at the centre of this pearl trade. Great pearling fleets left Muharraq, then the capital, for the waters around its shores where prized oyster beds lay. It was tough, arduous, backbreaking work for those on the ships, but it generated enormous wealth for some.
Traders flocked to Bahrain, merchants built mansions with striking wind towers, while its pearls sold for vast sums abroad. It was a lost world of boat captains, pearl divers, traders, creditors and sail-makers. And Jacques did not want to simply buy pearls, but immerse himself in this world.
“He went on pearl fishing boats; spoke to the merchants; and had meals with them,” she said. “He wanted to ... eat the food and speak to people.”
Striking black-and-white photographs of his trip freeze Bahrain in time. They show Jacques meeting pearl merchants, sitting on a boat deck and exploring the country. This was a Bahrain entering the twilight of the pearl trade, because only a few decades later the discovery of cultured pearls in Japan would upend the market. But in 1912, everyone wanted pearls.
They were hard to find and even a necklace could take years to complete given the difficulty of finding the right size and shape.
“Jacques spoke about being on a pearl fishing boat for a blisteringly hot few hours and got so many shells but not a single pearl of any note," she said. "So if it takes that long to find one pearl, imagine finding two which are similar enough to make a necklace.”
After the trip, Cartier advertisements soon began to portray the company as pearl importers and suppliers. Photos Jacques took were also transferred into sketches to show Cartier as being highly connected to the trade with a direct line to the sheikhs.
“This was maybe implying more than was the case,” said Ms Cartier Brickell, who was inspired to write her book after finding a trunk of letters in her grandfather's cellar.
“But they had relationships with those people and one can’t overestimate the importance of pearls for Cartier then.”
But the visit to Bahrain and India also left another imprint. Something much more profound. Ms Cartier Brickell has leafed through several small diaries carried by Jacques in Bahrain where he jotted down ideas, observations and even impromptu sketches of what he saw, such as local motifs, Islamic shapes and regional building designs he would not have seen in Europe.
These then start to inspire Cartier jewellery. A Cartier desk clock known as an "altar", for example, clearly takes inspiration through its use of local motifs such as the arch.
“I think he came back with something else ― not just business connections and stones. He came back with inspiration for a new type of jewellery. The purest influence on style came from the Middle East and India.
“Cartier’s motto is ‘never copy, create’,” she said. “It was not obvious but they were inspired.”
During her time in Bahrain, Ms Cartier Brickell participated in the Jewellery Arabia Exhibition where she visited the stand of the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones (Danat). Bahrain is trying to revive its pearl sector which stretches back thousands of years, by promoting sustainable pearling and highlighting its rich past. Danat is a key part of this. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, in 2012 awarded Bahrain's pearling history world heritage status.
Ms Cartier Brickell, who has no ownership link or managerial involvement with the Cartier company of today as it no longer owned by the family but Swiss company Richemont, also gave a talk about Jacques' visit and even recreated some of his photographs from that 1912 trip.
“A lot of books talk about Louis Cartier ― the elder brother in Paris who was the creative genius ― and didn’t talk so much about Pierre and Jacques," she said.
"So it was lovely for me to go to a place where people felt that connection with Jacques. It was really moving. I got quite emotional.”
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Engine: Duel electric motors
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
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Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
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Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
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Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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Bantamweight: Victor Nunes (BRA) beat Azizbek Satibaldiev (KYG). Round 1 KO
Featherweight: Izzeddin Farhan (JOR) beat Ozodbek Azimov (UZB). Round 1 rear naked choke
Middleweight: Zaakir Badat (RSA) beat Ercin Sirin (TUR). Round 1 triangle choke
Featherweight: Ali Alqaisi (JOR) beat Furkatbek Yokubov (UZB). Round 1 TKO
Featherweight: Abu Muslim Alikhanov (RUS) beat Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG). Unanimous decision
Catchweight 74kg: Mirafzal Akhtamov (UZB) beat Marcos Costa (BRA). Split decision
Welterweight: Andre Fialho (POR) beat Sang Hoon-yu (KOR). Round 1 TKO
Lightweight: John Mitchell (IRE) beat Arbi Emiev (RUS). Round 2 RSC (deep cuts)
Middleweight: Gianni Melillo (ITA) beat Mohammed Karaki (LEB)
Welterweight: Handesson Ferreira (BRA) beat Amiran Gogoladze (GEO). Unanimous decision
Flyweight (Female): Carolina Jimenez (VEN) beat Lucrezia Ria (ITA), Round 1 rear naked choke
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Lightweight: Martun Mezhlumyan (ARM) beat Attila Korkmaz (TUR). Unanimous decision
Bantamweight: Ray Borg (USA) beat Jesse Arnett (CAN). Unanimous decision
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"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
