Glypticians are a discreet part of luxury manufacturing (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/fashion/jewelry-gems-carving-cameos.html). Crafting relief images from stone and gems, glypticians belong to an ancient and rarefied world.
Striking in the article is a comment by a Hong Kong glyptician, Wallace Chan, that the craft requires the glyptician to not only make his or her own tools but to make the machines that make the tools. This put me in mind of Jonny Ive who says his Apple design team must do the same.
Cartier’s glyptician, the primary focus of the article above, has three apprentices and this ancient form of education also seems implicit at Apple. In a prior post (below), I link to a short but excellent video about Ive’s design unit at Apple where one sees younger designers sitting with old hands. Scheler thoroughly approves.
