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Art Deco: 1920 - 1930
The economic and social pressures that immediately followed the First World War brought with them a new mood for a clean and rigorous clean cut look.
It was an innovative design style popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Its sleek, streamlined forms conveyed elegance and sophistication. It was the age of the Flapper, the Jazz and the Machine Age. Materials used ranged from rubies, gold, pearls to plastic, chrome and steel. Platinum was the new luxury metal used with opaque stones like coral, jade, onyx and lapis lazuli. Costume jewellery became even more popular and outrageous. Trend setting couturiers were Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapelli. Influences were Pharaonic Egypt, the Orient, tribal Africa, Cubism, Futurism, machines and graphic design. However, jewellery of the 1920’s and 30’s was in thrall to geometry, circles, arcs, squares, rectangles and triangles and so on. René Lalique, who created glass jewellery in the 1920’s and 30’s, moulded some of his pendants with romantic women; stylised African head formed by Chanel and others.
The Twenties and Thirties 1919 – 1930
The end of the First World War marked the start of the popularity of costume jewellery. Fine jewellery at the time had unpleasant associations with being frivolous and unpatriotic. The new fashion for women was casual as well as sporty, and was not very well suited to the formality of precious gemstones. The Art Nouveau movement had already prompted a change in perception towards jewellery, focusing attention on aesthetic rather than monetary value. In the postwar period, the major couturiers took this one stage further by initiating the trend for entirely non-precious jewellery.
The Second World War and after 1939 – 1949
Many European Jewellers found themselves involved in the war effort. Their workshops and tools were used for the production of bullets, surgical steel equipment and radio components. There was a shortage of gold and silver bullion and other materials, as well as labour shortages. Even costume jewellery was not widely available. Many of the centres were bombed including Birmingham and Pforzhiem. Manufacturers turned out large quantities of regimental badges; there was also a renewed interest in Victoriana, notably Whitby jet mourning jewellery and Berlin iron jewellery.
The postwar period
In Britain and the rest of Europe, the consequences of the war were to last many years, as shortages of manpower and materials continued and the painstaking work of reconstruction took place, much of it financed by America. Many of the technologies and scientific advances made during the war were adapted for peacetime use. Automated manufacturing techniques, the development of new plastics and the emergence of microchip technology were all to have profound effects.
Jewellery design
After the war jewellery design continued to develop despite the economic difficulties. Forties jewellery is characterised by its chunkiness and use of contrast. The interest in machinery is reflected in the designs. People still had limited financial resources so, small quantities of gold were wrought into designs to create an impression of things being bigger than the really were. Designs were much more fluid than Art Deco and often included pleats and drapes simulating fabric. Invisible settings were used in which small-cut rubies were placed. Unusual motifs such as clowns, ballerinas and cats were often used. Cartier built up a taste for exotic fauna, in particular the wild cats designed by Jeanne Tousaint. These animals became the ‘luxurious but poignant symbols of the Duchess of Windsor’ and were perfected by Cartier during the forties and fifties.
Fine Art Jewellery
Many fine artists continued to see jewellery making as an important part of their work. They continued to discover imaginative and creative forms. An important Italian artist who contributed to jewellery design was Bruno Martinazzi. He experimented with layered gold and texture. Other painters and sculptors who took an interest in jewellery were Braque, Tanguy, Man Ray, Dubuffet, Picasso, Fontana, Giacometti, and Alexander Calder.
Costume jewellery
The costume jewellery market was fostered after the war by the decreasing supplies of natural materials and the introduction of new plastics. Aspreys produced a highly successful brooch in ‘washable plastic’ but overall attitudes towards new materials was more conservative that in France and America. Parisians loved ‘faux gems’ and many French couturiers encouraged the use of bold essentially classic designs. Christian Dior, who created the ‘New look’ in 1947, developed the theatrical qualities of costume jewellery.
Contemporary jewellery: 1960 to today
In the last 30 years or so, the Western world has experienced unprecedented technological advances, with immense social change following in their wake. Although jewellery as a decorative art has never been in the vanguard of cultural change, many contemporary jewellers have reflected social change by using their ingenuity and expertise to explore the medium and even question its values.
Continuing tradition
The most famous names in the jewellery world such as Cartier, Bulgari, Boucheron, Asprey and Tiffany have remained faithful to their exclusive clientele and continued to produce jewellery in the ‘grand manner’. The established companies still devise sumptuous designs in precious metals and exquisite gemstones as status symbols and investments. Many of these customers have been from the Middle East where tradition still demands the formal display of wealth and rank.
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