Art Deco Jewellery and Accessories: New Style for a New World

The end of the First World War left much of Europe faced with an entirely new political and social situation: absolute monarchy was consigned to the dustbin of history and essays in democracy were the order of the day. The changed conditions and the new way of life associated with them required new forms of expression in music, dance, architecture and painting - and of course also in design. There France had led the field since the ground-breaking 1925 Exposition International des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris. Germany had not even been invited to that world exhibition - the effects of the Great War that had only ended a few years previously were still being felt.All great jewellery-designers were strongly committed to the Art Deco style, which featured astringent sophistication in design and choice of materials: jewellers such as Cartier, Boucheron, Rene Lalique, Georges Fouquet and designers such as Jean Despres and Rene Boivin. From about 1928, this canon of forms occurs both in the work of Naum Slutzky at the Bauhaus and the German jewellery industry as represented by Theodor Fahrner Nachf. Gustav Brandle in Pforzheim and Jakob Bengel in Idar-Oberstein.