Cartier Soirée

It was a real gem of an event when supporters of Lotusland descended on the Belmond El Encanto for a lecture on the exquisite jewelry of Cartier, the international bling emporium.

If the late opera singer Ganna Walska liked anything more than the plants and flowers at her 37-acre Montecito estate it was jewelry, and she bought dozens of major pieces in her lifetime.

The silvery soirée was hosted by Worthy McCartney, who has spent more than 30 years with Cartier and currently serves as regional prestige executive sales advisor in Beverly Hills, and led by Gregory Bishop, who has been with the company for almost 25 years and serves as assistant vice president of Heritage and Sales Development, specializing in vintage and antique pieces.

Bishop is also responsible for sourcing and acquiring vintage items for the permanent Cartier Collection, as well as the Cartier Traditional Collection, sold exclusively at Cartier boutiques internationally.

One of Walska’s most interesting items was a diamond pendant necklace with ten large rose-cut diamonds – later sold to eccentric tobacco heiress Doris Duke – and a 1933 Cartier diamond necklace.

The sales of many of Walska’s Cartier jewelry pieces in 1971 enabled the gardens at Lotusland to expand.

Among the guests, who participated in a sumptuous tea afterwards, were Thomasine Richards, Anne Luther, Kendall Conrad, Caroline Thompson, and Belle and Lily Hahn.

A CRISPR Conversation

Social gridlock reigned at Villa & Vine, the State Street eatery just a tiara’s toss from the Granada when 2020 Nobel Prize winning biochemist Dr. Jennifer Doudna – who alongside Emmanuelle Charpentier developed CRISPR gene editing, a genome engineering technology – spoke on “The Future of Human Health” at a dinner before the fascinating lecture. Notably, a novel technique dubbed “cancer shredding” also uses CRISPR to destroy particular types of tumor cells. Co-author of A Crack in Creation and the subject of Walter Isaacson’s bestseller The Code Breaker, Doudna explored the profoundly powerful gene editing technology, its ethical implications and its breakthrough applications in agriculture, the environment, and medical science.

Among the rapt audience were Patty MacFarlane, Katine Zaninovich, Ed and Sue Birch, Tom and Heather Sturgess, Susan McCaw, Keith Lavine, and Ed McKinley.