This week in PostMag: sustainable luxury and tea steeped in tradition
Excellence doesn’t shout: a Cartier honouree, tea guardians, Omani artisans and bold authors prove quiet brilliance speaks the loudest
Corporate awards tend to promise more than they deliver. So, when I arrived in Osaka for the Cartier Women’s Initiative Impact Awards in May, I kept my expectations in check. Still, the week that also marked the opening of the Women’s Pavilion at Expo 2025 offered more than window dressing. Designed by Japanese architect Yuko Nagayama and British artist Es Devlin, and backed by Cartier, the pavilion champions gender equality.
The ceremony itself was part of a broader effort. Launched in 2006, the Cartier Women’s Initiative is one of those programmes you might initially file under corporate virtue-signalling. I’ll admit: I arrived half-expecting something glossy and well-meaning. And it was glossy. But it was also disarmingly sincere.
I spoke with the women Cartier supported. I saw the work these entrepreneurs were doing. I left feeling like it was something more than just PR (and I’m the original sceptic, ask anyone). Over the years, the initiative has supported more than 300 women-led businesses across the globe, offering not only funding but long-term mentorship and access to the kinds of networks that actually move the needle.
This year’s Impact Awards honoured nine former fellows whose projects have stood the test of time. They were being recognised not for buzzy new ideas, but for what they had actually done with them. Among the nine was Kresse Wesling, co-founder of Elvis & Kresse, who has spent nearly two decades on a circular-economy-meets-luxury mission.
