Contemporary

Now it is the present-day in jewellery design. We have seen the Victorian era where standards were set in stone (so to speak); we have seen the Art Deco and Art Nouveau eras where these standards were questioned and improved upon, now what is the trend in jewellery in the contemporary era? We are past cultural influences, now jewellery has its own cosmopolitan style. We are past Victorian floral patterns and we are past futuristic geometries. By this stage, jewellery has developed a distinct style, and you can see this when you look in any jewellery shop window, but putting your finger on and describing this style is as hard as asking the jeweller if you can try it on. The way we see contemporary post-WWII (1945 onwards) era? Current jewellery is in a state of balance. It is past the audacious and experimental styles of past, and has reached a state of harmony between curvature and angle, fluidity and rigidity, vibrance and reservation, nature and industry. Next time you look at a beautiful wedding ring in a store window, take note of the delicate balance that the jeweller has achieved between all of these elements. For instance, gentle spirals and carefully-placed jewels of most new wedding rings suggest flora, but are still precise and geometric.