A bracelet of this design is illustrated in Harper’s Bazaar, June 1968, in an article by Tamsin Lesley which profiles Barbara Cartlidge as an example of the alternative independent designer-craftsmen or studio jewellers that were becoming more prominent in London at this time. The article describes how she ‘designs and makes modern jewellery in a small, hot glass studio tacked on to the back of her house at Hampstead’ and, reminiscent of the priorities of Arts and Crafts jewellers at the turn of the century, notes her use of ‘crude, primeval tools to produce gold and silver jewellery of stunning simplicity’. Its cost – no doubt dependant on the individual stones – was stated to be approximately £40.

One of the early stockists of Barbara Cartlidge’s jewellery was Heals, although in practice outlets for this style of work were few and for most orders a client would deal directly with the jeweller. In 1971 Barbara Cartlidge and her husband Derrick became the first directors of the Electrum Gallery on London’s South Molton Street, which provided a link between maker and customer, and was pioneering in its championing of innovative international jewellers. It was for some years the only place in London such work could be seen, and it is for this and for her writing that she is now best known.

Barbara Cartlidge commented in the Harper’s Bazaar article ‘Fairly often I make a piece of jewellery which I cannot sell because I am so attached to it – so my own personal collection increases all the time’. This bracelet comes to the V&A as a gift from her personal collection.