Art Deco Jewelry - When Modernity Wore Diamonds

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ALBERTINA JOURNAL

Issue 03

Art Deco: When Modernity Changed the World of Jewelry

Paris - The New Woman and the Revolution That Changed the World of Jewelry

A New World Born From War

Paris, the 1920s. The First World War had ended, but the world that emerged in its wake was no longer the world that preceded it. Women who had lived for generations within rigid social frameworks discovered a new independence. The automobile shortened distances, radio and cinema accelerated the flow of information and made culture more international, and jazz arriving from America filled the nightclubs. Dresses became shorter, hair was bobbed, and the rhythm of life changed.

The new generation did not just seek to return to the life it knew before the war. It wanted to reinvent it—and jewelry had to change as well.

The swirling lines, flowers, and garlands that characterized Art Nouveau gradually gave way to sharp, structured forms: triangles and rectangles, stepped elements, parallel lines, symmetry, and intense contrasts. Diamonds and platinum met black onyx. Emeralds, rubies, and sapphires were combined in bold, colorful compositions, alongside jade, coral, rock crystal, and enamel.

 

Art Deco platinum and diamond bracelet - Albertina Collection

 

From all this grew and was born a new design language, one we know today by the name ART-DECO.

To understand its birth, one must first look at the world from which it emerged. The First World War left Europe with loss, destruction, and uncertainty. As society began to recover, a deep desire for order, structure, and clarity awakened. Art Deco gave this desire a visual form: precise lines, clean surfaces, clear geometry; the style and inspiration were architectural. Jewelry designers thought and created like architects. The structure of jewelry no longer needed to be delicate, romantic, and soft—it was geometric, dramatic, and clear.

Poster for the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, designed by Robert Bonfils

 

Paris, 1925: The moment the world saw the future

In 1925, the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes) was held in Paris. It presented architecture, furniture, fashion, glass, luxury goods, and jewelry, and placed at its center a modern creation that explicitly sought to move away from imitating the past.

 

The entrance to the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts - Place de la Concorde, Paris

 

The exhibition's name became a stylistic term only decades later, in the early 60s. The designers and participants in the exhibition did not view themselves as representatives of one distinct movement. The only clear demand for exhibition participants was to present innovative and modern works in every field, and so it was. Works were presented at the exhibition that had never been seen before, in terms of material combinations, structure, and design. In retrospect, the exhibition became a clear symbol and one of the cornerstones that defined the era—the moment when modernity was displayed and received an international stage. The name was derived as an abbreviation of the exhibition's name.

Paris was the most important center of the jewelry world. Established jewelry houses and other jewelry firms produced a new world of design during the twenties and thirties: Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Mauboussin, Fouquet, René Boivin, Raymond Templier, Janesich, Ostertag, Paul Brandt.

They did not all speak the same language. Some chose strict geometry and the contrast of black and white, others preferred colorful gemstones, sculptural volumes, or influences from the East. It is precisely this multiplicity of voices that makes Art Deco jewelry so fascinating.

 

Cartier: When India, Paris, and modernity met

One of the central designers that set the tone during that period was Cartier, an international empire run by three brothers: Louis Cartier in Paris, Jacques Cartier in London, and Pierre Cartier in New York. The connection between the three capitals gave the House of Cartier an extraordinary international vision. One of its most important sources of inspiration was found far from Europe—in India.

Jacques Cartier visited India in 1911 and was exposed to the jewelry of the Mughal court and to carved and colored gemstones.

The carved and colorful Mughal gemstones, which were so different from European carvings and polishings—emeralds, rubies, and sapphires that were engraved in the shapes of leaves and flowers—were integrated into platinum frames. From this visit grew one of the design languages most identified with Cartier, which became known later as "Tutti Frutti," and was initially called "foliage."

The connection between India and the Parisian jewelry houses did not end with visual inspiration. Members of royal families and Indian Maharajas arrived in Europe carrying historical gemstones and jewelry, and requested that the jewelry houses adapt them to the new Western taste. Thus, a stone that had been mined centuries earlier and used in a piece of Mughal court jewelry could be integrated into a completely modern Art Deco piece.

Today, these pieces can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Jewelry that incorporates two stories within it: the story of the original piece and the story of the new life of the piece in its Western form.

It is impossible to look at this meeting without also remembering the historical context in which it occurred. Europe of the early twentieth century was exposed to distant cultures through trade, exhibitions, and imperial ties that were not always conducted on equal terms. Recognizing this complexity does not diminish the artistic achievement; it allows one to see the jewelry not only as a work of art but also as a document testifying to the society and the era in which it was created.

A meeting between an ancient carved Mughal gemstone and the geometry of the Art Deco style

 

1922: A Pharaoh drives the world crazy

In 1922, the archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. The news and photographs that arrived from Egypt ignited a tremendous enthusiasm in the Western world for ancient Egyptian culture.

'Egyptomania' quickly permeated fashion, architecture, design, and of course, jewelry. Scarabs, lotus flowers, falcons, pyramids, and shapes resembling hieroglyphics became part of the visual language of the period. The designers did not settle for copying ancient symbols. They dismantled them, redesigned them, and passed them through the geometric filter of modernism.

Thus was born one of the beautiful paradoxes of Art Deco: the most ancient could appear completely innovative.

Additional sources of inspiration came from China and Japan, mainly through jade, jadeite, and coral, as well as from Persian miniatures and textiles known for their rich color combinations. For the Parisian designers, the whole world became a repository of shapes, materials, and stories.

 

Art Deco snake necklace inspired by the wave of Egyptology, gold and rubies. Albertina Collection

 

 

The new woman also changes the jewelry

It is impossible to understand Art Deco without understanding the change that took place in the lives of women after the First World War. During the war, women began to work in jobs and roles previously reserved only for men. After the war, they were not prepared to return to the old world. They understood that they could also fill roles that were previously considered exclusively masculine.

Following this fundamental historical change, the female silhouette also changed. Dresses were cut in a straight line, freeing women from the need for a corset to emphasize the waist. The length of the dresses and their sleeves shortened, exposing arms and calves, hair was bobbed, and its movement was free in the 'bob' haircut.

 

 

With the clothing, the jewelry also changed.

An exposed arm was a perfect stage for a wide diamond bracelet.

A long necklace/sautoir that moved with the movement of the body during dancing and became the focus of the outfit.

Brooches that became particularly popular in the 30s—the "clip" and the "double clip."

The jewelry was not intended to declare wealth or family status. It became part of the way a woman chose to present herself to the world.

 

Alongside the luxury houses, which were managed mostly by men, there were also women who left a deep mark on modern jewelry. After the death of jeweler René Boivin in 1917, his widow, Jeanne Boivin, took over the management of the jewelry house that bore his name. Under her leadership, the house developed an independent and bold design language and became one of the most exceptional jewelry houses in Paris.

During the twenties, the designer Suzanne Belperron worked at the house, playing a central role in shaping its style before she embarked on her own independent path in the early thirties. In 1933, the designer Juliette Moutard joined the house, continuing to design for it for decades. These three women, a manager and two designers who worked one after the other, were among the most important figures behind the success of the House of René Boivin.

These women were not just customers or muses. They were designers, managers, and creators who operated at the heart of the industry and influenced the visual language of the period.

 

Fashion photograph published in Vogue, March 1934 - Earrings by René Boivin.

 

The great jewelers also expanded their activities into the social life of the modern woman. Alongside rings, bracelets, and necklaces, they created powder compacts, cigarette cases, evening bags, and tiny makeup accessories that looked like jewelry in every respect.

A woman who entered an evening club and pulled out of her bag a powder compact made of onyx, enamel, gold, and diamonds turned fixing her makeup into a moment of performance. Art Deco did not just settle for designing the body. It sought to design a whole lifestyle.

 

Powder compact, lipstick, and cigarette case - Art Deco

 

Coco Chanel - The rebellion against the value of jewelry

During those same years that Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and other Parisian jewelry houses reached new peaks of creation in gold, platinum, and precious gemstones, Coco Chanel offered a completely different concept of jewelry. She did not try to compete with high jewelry, but rather challenged the assumption that the value of a piece of jewelry is determined only by the materials from which it is created.

Chanel incorporated artificial pearls, colored glass, inexpensive metals, and polished crystals produced by Swarovski into the outfits she designed, which began during those years to be integrated into the creations of Parisian fashion houses. Sometimes she wore costume jewelry alongside real pearls and gemstones, and deliberately blurred the boundary between high jewelry and costume jewelry.

Her idea was innovative for its time: jewelry does not have to be expensive to be beautiful, impressive, and possess presence. Its value can also stem from the design, from personal style, and from the way a woman chooses to wear it. In doing so, Chanel turned jewelry from a symbol of wealth and status alone into a means of self-expression.

Precisely at the height of the golden age of high French jewelry, Chanel offered a new hierarchy, in which expensive jewelry and fashionable jewelry could appear side by side. This concept changed the attitude toward costume jewelry, and its influence is felt in the world of jewelry to this day.

 

The black dress and the pearl necklace - the value of the jewelry lies not only in the materials from which it is created, but in its design and the way it is worn - the style of Coco Chanel.

 

The designers who turned jewelry into modern art

Alongside the great jewelry houses, a group of designers worked in Paris who sought to distance Art Deco from tradition and lead it in a more abstract and modernist direction. For them, the gemstone was no longer necessarily the starting point of the jewelry. Sometimes the idea, the structure, and the relationships between the shapes were just as important as the expensive materials.

One of the most prominent among them was Jean Fouquet, who created jewelry that sometimes looked like miniature architecture. His father, Georges Fouquet, managed the family jewelry house and headed the jewelry department at the 1925 Paris Exhibition. Jean joined the family house in 1919 and introduced a new language into his work, influenced by modern architecture, the world of machines, and industrial structures. In his creations, geometric shapes, intense colors, and opposing materials connected into bold and unexpected compositions.

Raymond Templier, a jeweler who turned toward an even more abstract direction, created jewelry with clean lines and powerful contrasts, designed with great care and precision. Geometric shapes, polished surfaces, and combinations of gold, silver, diamonds, onyx, and lacquer gave his works a modern appearance that had almost no precedent in the world of jewelry.

Paul Brandt, who was a silversmith, painter, sculptor, and engraver, also viewed jewelry as a complete work of art. In his works, the line, the shape, and the composition were just as important as the gemstone. He did not just seek to present an expensive stone in a beautiful frame, but to create a piece of jewelry in which every detail participates in the design idea.

The House of Mauboussin chose a more colorful path. Its creations from the late twenties were characterized by bold combinations of gemstones and enamel, and were influenced by the meeting between Eastern cultures and Parisian jewelry making. The color was not used as a decorative addition only, but was a central part of the composition.

These designers placed a new question at the center of jewelry making: Is the value of a piece of jewelry determined only by the rarity of the materials from which it is created, or can the idea, the originality, and the quality of the design also be the source of its value?

Their answer was clear. In truly modern jewelry, the material and the idea do not compete with each other. Together, they create a small work of art intended to be worn.

 

From sketch to jewelry: During the Art Deco period, jewelry became an architectural composition of lines, surfaces, material, and color.

 

Daisy Fellowes: When a customer becomes an icon

In every shining era, there are women who are not satisfied with just adopting fashion, but become part of its story. One of the most prominent in the Art Deco years was Daisy Fellowes, heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune, writer, socialite, and editor of the Parisian edition of Harper’s Bazaar. She was known for her bold style and her ability to turn every dress and piece of jewelry into a personal statement and a topic of conversation in high society.

In 1935, Fellowes held a grand ball in Paris inspired by the East. During those years, the city attracted European nobility, Indian Maharajas, and wealthy customers from all over the world, and the great jewelry houses presented them with works that combined European tradition with influences from India and the Far East. For the ball, some of the most spectacular pieces of jewelry ever seen in Parisian society were taken out of the vaults.

A year later, Fellowes commissioned the Collier Hindou from Cartier, one of the most famous necklaces in the Tutti Frutti style. The necklace was created from her own collection of carved gemstones and combined emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds in a rich and colorful composition. Its centerpiece could be detached and worn separately as a clip brooch—a perfect expression of the Art Deco era’s love for multi-purpose jewelry that could be modified and adapted for different occasions and styles of wear.

The many sapphires incorporated into the necklace add an interesting detail to its story. In certain Indian traditions, the sapphire was considered a powerful stone whose influence could be either positive or negative. For this reason, it was worn with caution and appeared relatively infrequently in Indian jewelry. The bold use of sapphires in the Collier Hindou gave Cartier's European interpretation of the Indian style an even more unique character.

In 1991, the necklace was offered for sale at Sotheby’s Geneva and sold for approximately $2.66 million. At the time, this was a record auction price for a piece of Art Deco jewelry. Cartier reacquired the piece, and today it is kept in the house’s heritage collection.

The Collier Hindou is not just an extraordinary necklace. It tells the story of an encounter between ancient Indian gemstones and modern Parisian jewelry-making, and between a legendary jewelry house and a client of taste, daring, and vision. It is the story of a woman, a work of art, and an entire era.

 

Collier Hindou - Cartier

 

1929: When the party stopped, high jewelry did not disappear

The 1929 Wall Street crash paved the way for the Great Depression. The optimism of the twenties gave way to unemployment, bankruptcies, bank failures, and economic insecurity. The great jewelry houses felt the crisis deeply. Clients lost their fortunes, orders dwindled, and branches of luxury houses were closed. The golden age of the twenties had ended.

And yet, high jewelry did not disappear. The crisis affected different segments of society with varying degrees of intensity, and royalty, noble families, industrialists, and wealthy clients who managed to preserve their fortunes continued to order extraordinary pieces. While the number of orders decreased, some of the pieces created became more personal, bold, and innovative.

At a time when banks were collapsing and the value of currencies and securities was eroding, gold and gemstones took on additional meaning. They were not merely raw materials for magnificent jewelry, but also tangible, portable assets of value that could be kept, transferred, and even taken from country to country. This does not mean every jewelry purchase was intended as an investment, but for some with capital, precious metals and gemstones offered a sense of security that money deposited in a bank could not always provide.

This tension was well expressed by Coco Chanel in 1932, when she introduced the Bijoux de Diamants collection in Paris. Precisely in the midst of the economic crisis, she shifted for a moment from the costume jewelry associated with her to real diamonds set in platinum and gold. Chanel explained that in times of financial crisis, a desire for authenticity reawakens, and that the diamond embodies great value in a small volume. The collection was not only a display of luxury but also an attempt to restore confidence and interest in the diamond market, which had been hit by the crisis. Chanel describes the 1932 collection⁠ as a light intended to break through the gloomy atmosphere of the time.

 

A diamond necklace inspired by Coco Chanel’s celestial motifs - the significance of the diamond as a real, durable, and stable material - like the stars, moons, comets, and sun - present in an era of uncertainty

 

Alongside high jewelry, the world of costume jewelry also developed rapidly. Women who could not, or did not want to, purchase expensive diamonds and gemstones still wished to dress up, renew themselves, and express themselves. Faux pearls, colored glass, crystals, and base metals allowed them to wear jewelry with presence and style at a more accessible price. Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, and other designers transformed costume jewelry from a cheap imitation of real jewelry into a design item with its own aesthetic value.

Thus, a jewelry world emerged in the thirties that operated in two directions simultaneously. On one hand, rare and expensive creations intended for a select audience served as a symbol of endurance and tangible value. On the other hand, bold and accessible costume jewelry allowed a broad audience to participate in the new language of fashion.

The Art Deco style itself also changed. The sharp, geometric lines of the twenties did not disappear, but gradually jewelry became wider, more sculptural, and more sensual. From this transition emerged one of the most fascinating figures in the history of modern jewelry, Suzanne Belperron.

But that is the story for the next chapter.

 

Art Deco diamond and sapphire bracelet - Albertina collection

 

A hundred years later: Why does Art Deco still look modern?

A hundred years have passed since the 1925 Paris exhibition, yet Art Deco jewelry does not look like a relic of a bygone world. The geometric lines, sharp contrasts, and bold combinations of diamonds, colored gemstones, onyx, and platinum give them a precise and relevant look even today.

Perhaps the secret of their power lies in the ability to connect worlds that seem contradictory: between ancient and modern, between traditional craftsmanship and the machine age, between Eastern cultures and Parisian jewelry, and between precious material and bold design concept. Although created about a hundred years ago, many of them look as if they were designed today.

In an era of mass production and rapidly changing trends, an original Art Deco piece represents a completely different philosophy. Jewelry that was not produced in thousands of copies and was not intended to disappear at the end of the season. Every detail in the piece was carefully planned, and every stone was set by hand. The jewelry was created for a specific person, worn over the years, and passed between generations, places, and eras.

This is one of the reasons why original Art Deco jewelry continues to fascinate collectors around the world. They carry with them the history of the era in which they were created, but their design language remains fresh, elegant, and contemporary. They remind us that good design does not belong only to its time. When it is truly precise, it can span an entire century and continue to look modern.

 

What makes a piece of Art Deco jewelry important?

Not every piece created in the twenties or thirties is necessarily an important piece of Art Deco jewelry. Two brooches from the same year might look similar at first glance, but be completely different in their quality, rarity, and value. The difference is sometimes in the smallest details, those that tell how the piece was designed, created, and preserved.

The examination begins with the design. In high-quality Art Deco jewelry, there is a clear sense of order and balance. The proportions are precise, the lines are clean, and the relationship between the stones and the frame is well-calculated. Even when the composition is complex, it does not look cluttered or random. Every stone and every line plays a role.

Equally important is the quality of workmanship. Fine platinum work, clean setting, nearly invisible connections, and meticulous finish attest to the level of the workshop in which the piece was created. In the best jewelry, it seems that the stones and the frame were planned together from the first moment, and not as if one was adapted to the other in hindsight.

The condition of the piece also affects its importance and value. Has it been preserved in its original form, or has it undergone repairs and changes? Have parts been removed, stones replaced, or the manner of wear changed? Such changes do not necessarily disqualify the piece, but it is important to identify them and understand how they affect its historical integrity.

Then, one examines the gemstones, the signatures, the maker’s marks, and the existing documentation. A signature from an important jewelry house can add great value, but it does not stand on its own. It must be checked to ensure it matches the era of creation, the house's style, and the quality of work. Documented provenance—the history of ownership—can also turn a beautiful creation into an object of extraordinary historical importance.

This is why original Art Deco creations by Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Fouquet, Raymond Templier, Mauboussin, and other important jewelry houses continue to generate interest among collectors worldwide. Cartier’s Tutti Frutti style jewelry is particularly sought after, but even an unsigned piece can be important if it excels in original design, high-quality gemstones, and excellent goldsmithing.

Ultimately, an important piece of Art Deco jewelry is much more than the sum of the materials from which it was made. Its value lies in the rare encounter between idea, proportion, material, and execution, and in the feeling that each of the components is meant to be exactly where it is.

 

A look at the Art Deco jewelry of Albertina

When we look at an original Art Deco piece in the Albertina gallery in the heart of Old Jaffa, we do not only see diamonds, platinum, and gemstones. We see an entire world captured within jewelry.

Behind the geometric lines and bold contrasts hides the story of an era that reinvented itself. It is the story of women who demanded freedom and independence, of designers who dared to break free from tradition, and of cities like Paris, London, and New York, which became laboratories of modern style. In a single piece, many cultures meet: influences from India, Egypt, and the Far East, each adding another layer of meaning.

An important Art Deco piece is simultaneously an object of luxury, a work of art, and a historical document. It carries the marks of the time in which it was created but continues to live on the body and change with every woman who wears it. Perhaps this is where the secret of its charm lies: it tells a hundred-year-old story, and yet it never looks outdated, not even for a moment.

Art Deco jewelry was born out of a world that sought a fresh start. A hundred years later, they still remind us that true modernity does not pass with fashion.

 Art Deco jewelry was created in the past, but has never stopped being the future.

In the next chapter of Albertina Journal

The Thirties: When glamour met a changed world

The economic depression deepened, political tensions in Europe rose, and the world moved toward another war. Jewelry also changed. The precise geometry of the twenties began to give way to wider, more sculptural, and more sensual forms.

In the next chapter, we will meet Suzanne Belperron, one of the most original and bold designers in the history of jewelry. We will discover why she refused to sign her works, how she turned gemstones into a sculptural material, and how she managed to create a language that was unmistakable even without a signature.

This is the story of a woman who did not ask to fit into the world of jewelry as it was. She sought to change it.

 

 

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