Art Deco Jewellery

Art deco jewellery still is beloved and highly sought after by many people around the globe, although it's peak time of production and widespread usage has been over for some 70 years. This form of jewellery really thrived in the 1920s and the 1930s, with many areas in Europe such as the trendy scene in Paris starting the movements before spreading, and becoming further commercialized and widespread in America for a variety of reasons.

One of the reasons why art deco jewellery became so prominent in America during the Roaring Twenties and into the 1930s as well was due to the fact that it reversed the conceptions of jewellery and high society that people had at the time. Of course, money was tight and most people could not afford lavish jewelry. Therefore art deco jewellery took away some of the importance of fine gemstones, rare gemstones and high prices and instead focused on the look itself.

This made it more accessible to the masses and led to its huge popularity. Added to this fact was that technology was now available to mass produce jewellery, along with other consumer products. Now designers could design one set of earrings, one pin or brooch or anything else and have them cheaply created thousands of times over, ready to be sold to the masses at low prices.

This also coincided with the introduction of new materials for art deco jewellery as well. Plastics were used and molded into geometric designs, as well as animals and other shapes and designs as well. Aluminum and steel were other common materials, and upper end, more premium level art deco jewellery used pearls, rubies, chrome, onyx, jade and more.

The main focus with the majority of art deco jewelry was bold, sleek lines along with geometric shapes such as basic circles, squares and rectangles. The use of graphical design, along with machines made it easy to create, shape and replicate these shapes and they have come to represent the focus of this form of jewellery.

There were many famous and prominent art deco jewellery designers and creators during the period's peak. One of the most renowned was Jean Dunand, born in Switzerland and based out of Paris, who used silver lacquered with bright reds and blacks, intricate lines and bold styles.

Louis Cartier and his company also became known for spectacular art deco jewellery, using fine materials such as gold, diamonds and platinum. There are dozens of other important and familiar names who thrived with art deco themes and jewelry, including the likes of LaCloche Freres, Mauboussin, Georges Fouquet, Spaulding-Gorham and on down the line.

Of course, there is much more to the world of art deco jewellery. Each designer had his own style and tended to produce jewellery with the same themes, designs and materials. The popularity of the form led to a great disparity between available styles, and as mentioned it enjoyed great popularity for a significant period of time. Today, the influence of art deco jewellery and the originations of costume jewelry are still very influential.