The Master Watchmaker’s Journey
1920
A dawn-lit workshop perched on the misty fringes of the Scottish Highlands. There, in the hush of early morning, a solitary figure—David (Chaim) Asher—adjusts the tiny gears of a pocket watch, his movements deliberate and sure. With a final twist of the screwdriver, time springs to life in his hand, as if it were an extension of his very pulse.
Carrying little more than his faith and unyielding devotion to precision, David sets sail for America. He arrives with the discipline of chronometry and a steadfast hope in his heart. His new workshop becomes more than a room cluttered with watch parts; it’s a sanctuary for fellow dreamers and newcomers—where skill is shared and second chances are born.
Silver and Fire
1930
Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, David’s daughter meets a young silversmith named Harold (Harry) Silberstein. In a hidden courtyard in Paris, where a determined teenager, abandoned at fourteen, learns to shape resilience as skillfully as he shapes metal. From molten silver to gleaming heirlooms, his artistry blossoms under the flicker of a solitary flame.
By 1935, fate beckons Harry to American shores. Where he meets David’s daughter. Seeking to fashion a name as sparkling as his craft, when he arrives in his new land he becomes Harry Gilbert—“Gil” for gold (the treasure he would soon command), and his smithing heritage. Together they forge a life—and a family tradition—where marriage is an alchemy of artistry and perseverance.
Studio on 57th Street
1950
From the alleys of Paris to the pulsing heartbeat of Manhattan in the late ’50s. Harry’s mind, now pivots to the art of fine jewelry. Inside a modest studio on 57th Street, near Carnegie Hall, metal meets imagination in a symphony of sparks and sketches. This is not just a workshop—it’s a sacred space where each ring, necklace, or brooch holds a secret: the discipline of a watchmaker wedded to the soul of an artist.
The family legacy is officially incorporated—no longer just a dream, but a promise etched in the heart of New York’s design world.
Charles, The Artistic Maverick
1960
Enter Charles—an artistic whirlwind. Educated at the Music & Art High School and Pratt Institute, his vision refuses to be confined.” Jewelry, to Charles, is living sculpture: a marriage of architecture and adornment. It should move like poetry, shimmer like an overture, and transcend the everyday.
In 1965, he marries Vivienne Castro—his equal in creative brilliance. A graduate of Industrial Arts High School (now the High School of Art & Design), Vivienne hones her eye for design at Parsons and NYU. Their union is a tapestry of innovation, weaving together technical mastery and unbridled imagination. By the late ’60s, the name “Charles and Vivienne” becomes synonymous with a bold new era in jewelry. Their bustling atelier moves to Lexington Avenue, securing a vibrant corner of Manhattan where creativity thrives. Department stores soon beckon, and their pieces find a place amidst the sparkling showcases of the city’s finest retail galleries.
The Culmination of a Dream—Vivienne Charles
Today
Now, imagine standing at the apex of this generational story, looking back over nearly a century of watchmakers, silversmiths, and sculptors. Elisa Gilbert takes center stage, naming her brand Vivienne Charles. It’s more than a name—it’s a living chronicle of artistry and innovation.
In each handcrafted piece, you’ll sense echoes of Scottish workshops and Parisian courtyards, the glow and rhythm of Carnegie Hall at their 57th Street studio, and the pulse of Lexington Avenue. Threads of time and tradition shape every gemstone, each gleaming facet a nod to resilience, devotion, and creative daring.
The result? Jewels that transcend fashion. That capture the spark of heritage and momentum. That whisper, “We have come so far; just imagine where we’ll go next.”
Elisa Gilbert
Alive with the steady tick of an antique grandfather clock and the glow of a well-used torch, in a cedar Balinese tea house tucked away in Tuxedo Park, New York, is an atelier, where Elisa Gilbert (Music and Art and Cornell University graduate) continues the family tradition of transforming pure metal into wearable works of art.
Four generations of watchmakers, metalsmiths, and sculptors, are the backdrop of pieces that marry precision with a hint of whimsy. Each earring carries the echoe of a turn of the century silver smith’s hammer and a sculptor’s eye for form. Woven through today's creations is a radiant thread of feminine grace that breathes new life into tradition.
Elisa created Vivienne Charles handcrafted fine jewelry, where heritage is the foundation for each daringly fresh piece of jewelry to adorn today's appreciator.
In this studio, precious materials are coaxed into sculptural expressions of personal history.
“Vivienne Charles” is a structured legacy with artistic flair. Jewelry that defies simple classification: high-end yet playfully unassuming, deeply reverent of the past but set on writing its own future.
Incorporate a piece in your life and feel the nod of past generations with a smiling glance at an exciting life to come. Acquire a Vivienne Charles heirloom that speaks to you at your core and will tell the generations of your future.