The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2025 - Issue 37

bitejewellery T he origins of the hand- crafted fine jewellery brand Vivienne Charles read like a novel high- lighting its heroes’ determination and persever- ance. It began in the 1920s in a dawn-lit work- shop perched on the misty fringes of the Scottish Highlands, where David (Chaim) Asher adjusts the tiny gears of a pocket watch with deliberate and sure movements. “With a final twist of the screwdriver, time springs to life in his hand, as if it were an extension of his pulse.” Through his increasing faith and unyielding devotion to precision, David travels to Ameri- ca, holding the discipline of chronometry and steadfast hope in his heart. Although his new workshop is cluttered with watch parts, it is a sanctuary for fellow dreamers and newcomers where skills are shared and second chances are born. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, David’s daughter met a young silversmith named Harold (Harry) Silberstein, who became instru- mental in the business. Abandoned at age fourteen in Paris, the deter- mined teenager learned to shape resilience as skilfully as he shaped metal. From molten silver to gleaming heirlooms, his artistry blossomed under the flicker of a solitary flame. When he ar- rived in America, Harry changed his surname to Gilbert, which was composed of the word ‘Gil’ for gold and his smithing heritage. He and David’s daughter forge a life and a family tradition where marriage is an alchemy of artistry and persever- ance. In the late 1950s, inside a modest studio on 57th Street near Carnegie Hall, Harry pivoted to the art of fine jewellery and combined metal with imagination in a symphony of sparks and sketch- es. The workshop became a sacred space where each ring, necklace, or brooch held a secret: the discipline of a watchmaker wedded to the soul of an artist. No longer a dream, the family legacy is officially incorporated, and the promise is etched in the heart of New York’s design world. Charles Gilbert, an artistic maverick educated at the Music & Art High School and Pratt Institute whose vision refused to be confined, arrived on the scene like a whirlwind. In his opinion, jewel- lery is a living sculpture: a marriage of architec- ture and adornment. “It should move like poet- ry, shimmer like an overture, and transcend the every day.” In 1965, he married Vivienne Castro, a graduate of Industrial Arts High School (now the High School of Art & Design), who honed her eye for design at Parsons and NYU. Their union was a tapestry of innovation, weav- ing together technical mastery and unbridled imagination. By the late 1960s, the name ‘Charles and Vivienne’ became synonymous with a bold new era in jewellery. Their bustling atelier moved to Lexington Avenue, securing a vibrant corner of Manhattan where creativity thrives. Depart- ment stores soon beckoned, and their pieces were found amidst the sparkling showcases of the city’s finest retail galleries. Several decades later, Elisa Gilbert established Vivienne Charles while nestled in a Balinese tea house atelier in Tuxedo Park, New York. “My family heritage is steeped in the craft. My father and grandfather were master goldsmiths, and my great-grandfather was a watchmaker. From an early age, I learned the importance of discipline, Birds, Bees and Things From The Sea