Art Deco turns 100, and our baubles are on theme

What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you hear ‘Art Deco’? Maybe it’s Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, shimmering in beaded flapper dresses, strands of pearls, and geometric jewels. Or an old-school Cartier ad selling precious platinum. Or perhaps the Liberty Cinema in Mumbai, with its rich wood panelling, grand staircase, and frozen fountain mirror. Because if there’s one era that understood excess, it was this one.

Art Deco, short for Arts Décoratifs, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that originated in the 1910s and reached its peak by the mid-1920s. It was a period in design when everything felt sleek, new, and ahead of its time, with an emphasis on geometric lines, rich colours, and lavish ornamentation. The style permeated everything from architecture to product design and jewellery. With the latter, brands such as Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels became household names for their boundary-pushing designs. Van Cleef & Arpels developed the serti invisible (“invisible setting”), which allowed gems to be mounted so that no prongs were visible—a technique that revolutionised jewellery design.

Now, a hundred years after Art Deco first made waves in the Roaring Twenties, its influence is still steadfast, especially in jewellery. Jay Sagar, a third-generation jeweller who oversees the jewellery division at auction house AstaGuru, considers it “the finest period of design”. What sets it apart? “There’s just so much charm and history. In my opinion, it was the golden era of design.”

While the style is now a century old, it still shows up in modern collections. For Hanut Singh, who often incorporates Deco elements into his designs, which have been worn by A-listers including Meryl Streep and Alia Bhatt, the era is a source of unending inspiration. “It’s never very obvious, but there’s always an homage, a hint, a riff, a rasa of Art Deco in everything I do. You’ll see it in my home, in my jewellery—it’s an era that I mine all the time,” he explains. His Hunk of a Rock necklace, for example, exemplifies this—a rectangular rutilated quartz set with delicate diamond pavé and framed by a diamond-encrusted bar.

When it comes to Art Deco jewellery’s greatest innovators, there’s no debate. “Cartier was the forerunner,” says Sagar. “Most of their pieces were designed for Indian maharajas, and these houses today are what they are because of the patronage of Indian royal families.” Singh concurs. “Cartier in the 1920s and ’30s was the greatest, without a doubt, because they were expansive in their Deco journey, and I continuously look to them for inspiration.”

The French maison’s Tutti Frutti collection, a whimsical yet elaborate fusion of carved sapphires, emeralds, and rubies, is a shining example of the era’s timeless appeal in the world of haute joaillerie. “It’s by far one of my favourites,” says Sagar. “Even regular Art Deco by Cartier—platinum necklaces, broad bracelets, earrings, and ear clips—are all my favourites.”

To mark the centennial of Art Deco, there are a slew of exciting exhibitions and celebrations taking place throughout the year. AstaGuru’s upcoming auction in Mumbai this May, titled Exceptionals, is packed with Deco pieces, while Cartier’s exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (which begins on April 12 and will go on till November 16 this year) will feature a stunning collection of 20th-century designs and more.

With the style continuing to show up in contemporary designs and exhibitions and auctions celebrating its centennial, it’s clear that Art Deco isn’t just a relic of the past. The glamour remains unmatched. The craftsmanship still setting standards. And the obsession? Still very shiny and new.