Photo Courtesy of Chaumet

“Art Déco” is a style that has left a big impact on the jewelry world, to an extent that we still find in most of the jewelry houses’ collections, pieces inspired by this theme. For the love of jewelry, we have decided to dedicate a whole feature to this timeless style that is always making headlines in a modern way.

Officially emerging in 1925, Art Déco jewelry has always fascinated jewelry enthusiasts with its creativity and intricacy. The authentic Art Déco jewelry pieces were created between 1920 and 1935 – and their timeless elegance is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in the world of jewelry making.

What makes Art Déco jewelry so special? First of all, all Art Déco pieces are made of white gold or platinum, as yellow gold was out of style. Another reason for the use of white gold would have been to avoid the high costs of platinum.

When it comes to diamonds, the modern round brilliant cut was nonexistent, so only old European-cut diamonds were used, along with the antique cushion cut, traditional cut and Asscher cut. On another note, calibre-cut stones are another characteristic of this jewelry style and they are known for their cuts that specifically fit into a certain jewelry design.

On a creative level, Art Déco jewelry pieces stand out by their more geometric and symmetrical designs. In fact, they might be mistaken for Edwardian Era pieces but the latters use nature as their main source of inspiration – which makes a huge difference in terms of design.

The last trait that makes this jewelry style so special would be the filigree work. This technique of creating intricate cut-outs reached the peak of precision during this era. And it actually makes the pieces more unique and nearly impossible to replicate because today’s jewelry making mostly use wax molds to create pieces.

Mirella Haddad