Sunday, November 11, 2007

Modern jewellery has never been as diverse as it is in the present day. The modern jewellery movement began in the late 1940s at the end of World War II with a renewed interest in artistic and leisurely pursuits. The movement is most noted with works by Georg Jensen and other jewellery designers who advanced the concept of wearable art. The advent of new materials, such as plastics, Precious Metal Clay (PMC) and different colouring techniques, has led to increased variety in styles. Other advances, such as the development of improved pearl harvesting by people such as Kokichi Mikimoto and the development of improved quality artificial gemstones such as moissanite (a diamond simulant), has placed jewellery within the economic grasp of a much larger segment of the population. The "jewellery as art" movement, spearheaded by artisans such as Robert Lee Morris and continued by designers such as Anoush Waddington in the UK, has kept jewellery on the leading edge of artistic design. Influence from other cultural forms is also evident; one example of this is bling-bling style jewellery, popularized by hip-hop and rap artists in the early 21st century. With the world's designs more accessible to jewellers, designs have blended in aspects from many different cultures from many different periods in time.
The late 20th century saw the blending of European design with oriental techniques such as Mokume-gane. The following are noted as the primary innovations in the decades stadling the year 2000: "Mokume-gane, hydraulic die forming, anti-clastic raising, fold-forming, reactive metal anodizing, shell forms, PMC, photoetching, and [use of] CAD/CAM."[34]
Artisan jewellery continues to grow as both a hobby and a profession. With more than 17 U.S. periodicals about beading alone, resources, accessibility and a low initial cost of entry continues to expand production of hand-made adornments. Popular because of its uniqueness, artisan jewellery can be found in just about any price range. Some fine examples of artisan jewellery can be seen at The Metropolitan Museum.[35]

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