Roaring ’20s return as jewellers reimagine art deco

When jewellers gathered to present their latest creations at the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, held in pavilions in Paris between April and October 1925, they helped change the face of global design. The event, where 15,000 exhibitors showcased a modern aesthetic in architecture, interior design and decorative arts, was a pivotal moment in — and later gave its name to — art deco.

A century on, jewels from the period remain sought after by collectors and inspire contemporary designs. And this popularity is only likely to be boosted as the era comes under the spotlight in this centennial year. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris will mark the anniversary with a retrospective focusing on the 1925 exhibition and unveil a new layout of its permanent art deco collections.

The 1925 exhibition was originally planned for a decade earlier but was postponed because of the first world war. One of its jury members was Louis Cartier, a “pioneer” of art deco who created his first pieces “in that direction” in 1904, notes Pierre Rainero, image, style and heritage director at Cartier.

Rainero says Louis Cartier — whose exhibited pieces included an orchid hair ornament of onyx, diamonds and platinum — was part of a generation of young creators who wanted to invent something in line with the world of technological advancement and social change around them.

The jeweller was not satisfied by art nouveau, says Rainero. “He is someone who has a huge culture and he cannot imagine that what has been done in the past cannot be mixed [with], or is of a lesser interest than, what has to be invented,” he says. “Everything has its place in the world of Louis Cartier in terms of beauty.”

Art deco is a period of many styles and philosophies, which is why Rainero thinks it remains a reference. “It’s a period when so many things have been explored in many different ways, but also when fundamentals have been proposed like the one[s] of geometry, abstraction, essentiality [and] the systematic curiosity towards other culture,” he says.

He adds that Cartier first took structural influences, in terms of geometry and abstraction, from the Islamic world and then Japanese culture. This is evidenced by the exhibition catalogues and books on Islamic art, and katagami (paper stencils used for printing motifs on kimonos), in the French house’s archives.

For the new exhibition of Cartier jewels and watches opening at London’s V&A museum on April 12, the promotional image is of an India-inspired Tutti Frutti bandeau. Bought by Lady Mountbatten in 1928, the piece features carved rubies, sapphires and emeralds, and diamonds. Other art deco pieces going on display include an Ancient Egypt-inspired diamond and platinum halo tiara (1934) worn by Begum Aga Khan III.

At the European Fine Art Foundation (Tefaf) fair in Maastricht in March, Wartski plans to show a Fouquet jewel linked to the original Paris exhibition. Katherine Purcell, joint managing director of the antique jewellery dealer, says an identical frosted rock crystal mask with diamonds suspended from the chin was conceived by French jeweller Georges Fouquet and his craftsman Louis Fertey for the 1925 event.

She thinks the piece was reimagined by Georges’ son Jean in the 1930s into the black-and-white design that survives, with emerald beads that had hung from the ears and chin removed and the diamond cap replaced with a rounded ebony one. “Not only is it interesting to see this as a work of two generations, but it gives you quite an interesting overview as to how art deco itself developed,” Purcell says.

The influence of the 1925 exhibition on jewellery is also explored in Paris, City of Pearls at L’École, School of Jewelry Arts, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, in the French capital until June 1. Co-curator Léonard Pouy says in the exhibition catalogue that the event was “especially responsible for boosting the ‘pearl mania’ that was erupting” in Paris at that time — and pearls featured prominently in several pavilions.

Pouy adds that “because of their very geometric roundness and their whiteness, and thanks to the arrival of increasingly large Japanese cultured pearls, they played a central role in the emergence of a new aesthetic” that became known in the 1960s as art deco.

The aesthetic endures, as reflected in art deco’s influence on contemporary designers. Athens-based Lito Fine Jewelry’s Paris 1925 collection is inspired by the architecture, jewellery, clothing, furniture, music and colours of the period, and features a ruby and diamond ring and bangle that draw on the form of New York’s art deco Chrysler Building.

“Art deco is not just one thing,” says the brand’s founder and designer Lito Karakostanoglou, who listened to 1920s jazz music while working on the line. “It can be so whimsical and poetic and, at the same time, so structured — and this is something that I love about it.”

It is the many cultural references of what UK jeweller Rachel Boston calls the “rich movement” that have inspired her for more than a decade. She also draws on its geometric lines and step-cut stones in her “modern deco” designs: the Ida Rubover engagement ring features an emerald-cut central diamond and two baguette-cut diamonds either side.

“[Art deco] was so futuristic and forward-thinking at the time of its inception that in a way it’s almost ended up balancing and feeling quite timeless,” says Boston.

This timelessness contributes to high demand for original pieces. A Van Cleef & Arpels diamond “tie” necklace (c 1929) fetched $3.6mn, three times the high estimate, at Sotheby’s last June. The more than 160 art deco jewellery lots sold by Phillips between 2019 and the end of November 2024 achieved 152 per cent of their presale low estimates and attracted buyers from 30 countries.

Benoît Repellin, worldwide head of jewellery at Phillips, says exhibitions by houses that show the importance of the art deco period for those brands, and new collections inspired by original jewels, can both help to drive high prices at auction. Boucheron drew inspiration from archival art deco pieces for its Histoire de Style Art Déco and New Maharajahs high jewellery collections in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Repellin says collectors are drawn by the craftsmanship of jewellery that reflects the “insouciance” of the Roaring ’20s. “Even when we look at the movies etc, there is this fascination and attraction to the period that is now the art deco period,” he says. As the era becomes a point of focus this year, collectors’ interest is likely to be piqued further.