Barbara Cartlidge and Electrum Gallery : a passion for jewellery

This publication documents for the first time the extraordinary life of Barbara Cartlidge (b. 1922 in Berlin) who had fled Germany in 1938. Her creative talents, entrepreneurial spirit and political activism are illustrated through her early years in London from the 1940s to 1970s. Little known is her success as a jeweller which resulted in press attention from fashion magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and, in 1960, a solo exhibition at Heal’s, leading in modern design. Late 1960's and Barbara's involvement with Pace Gallery brought about a meeting with Ralph Turner and their collaboration to create Electrum Gallery in 1971: the first gallery for exhibiting exclusively contemporary artist jewellery. The story of the next 36 years of Barbara’s involvement in Electrum Gallery, until her retirement in 2007, is told through the words and images of 70 internationally renowned artist jewellers who describe this strong, determined woman and the significance of the gallery for the wider world of contemporary jewellery. Electrum Gallery represented many hundreds of jewellers from around the world and made London an international platform for contemporary artist jewellery.