In the post-war period, the Giorgini Business Office immediately became an institution in Florence, because it was the first Building Office in the area to create a bridge between the fabulous offer of Florentine artisan production, which had its roots in the Renaissance, and American buyers, who came to Florence for silver, goldsmithing, carved wood, embroidery, wrought iron, leather and, last but not least, fashion, which was born in Palazzo Pitti.
Mrs. Gina Pestelli, wife of a well-known Florentine jeweler, was in charge of receiving Mr. William Smith, the official buyer of Cartier USA, who arrived directly from New York. The order he placed also included some of our pieces, in particular boxes and frames with malachite inserts and gilding with 24-karat gold.
In the end it didn’t go badly since we couldn’t be present, because at the same time we had an appointment with an important and loyal customer of ours.
A few months later, Mr. Smith returned, but this time he wanted to visit us at the company and here he saw what our specialties were: fired enamels.
Thus began a fruitful collaboration.
A few years later we participated in the prestigious New York Jewellery Association Show, which would see us exhibitors for the next 26 years.
Our presence at the American fair significantly strengthened the relationship with Cartier USA.
When we left we were also fearful, in the sense that we did not know how they would interpret our presence.
But as Mr. Smith himself told us:
“Salimbeni, you are the most correct and respectful people I know”.
And while he was saying this sentence, he gave us some photocopies of Louis François Cartier’s drawings to reproduce on the new collection.
This is how cigarette cases, powder bags, evening bags, frames and boxes were created exclusively for the Silver Department, the prestigious “silver lounge” on the first floor of the Cartier store on Fifth Avenue in New York.
On one occasion, a personalized request also arrived, that is, to remake an evening bag that Cartier made for the actress Mary Pickford in the 1920s and 1930s, also combined with a cigarette case and a powder bag that were housed inside it. of the bag.
Our work turned out to be very good and was also included in the Cartier catalog that they sent once a year to all their best customers.
At the time, in the late 80s, the president of Cartier USA was Mr. Ralph Destino and the owner was Madame Natalie Hocq.
We met her personally and she wanted to meet us every time we went to New York.
In the mid 90s, Madame Hocq, perhaps a little fed up with New York, perhaps because she had received a large offer, decided to sell the company to her French cousins who had long been trying to reunite everything under one ownership.
The new owners, however, had a very specific policy, less American and more French, that of completely eliminating the silver department and dedicating themselves entirely to jewelry and “Les Must de Cartier”, which did not include silverware. Many of the items we had in the pipeline for Cartier USA were never delivered due to the almost sudden breakdown in relations.
Mr. William Smith came to inform us that we would no longer be their suppliers and that all the objects designed and made for them could be sold to whoever we wanted even if, to be fair, we never did so at least in the United States, even if some of their “franchise stores” continued to request it.
In the following years we always remained in contact with Mr. Smith who, after retiring, already quite old, came to visit us at the New York fair and never failed to give us some good advice.
His assistant Margaret Ann instead became a buyer for Gucci.
In our collection we still have numerous other objects that we made at the time for Cartier USA.