World War II constrained both fine materials and pocketbooks, so more and more designers (including high-end designers) focused on glass to re-create the distinctive properties of different gems. High-end designers thus began making costume glass jewelry - but with the same attention to detail, high craftsmanship, and design skill that was applied to fine jewelry.
Art Deco is one of the first truly international styles, that influenced the design of buildings, furniture, fashion and of course, jewelry. The movement was given a name from the international exposition of Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, that was held in Paris in 1925 and largely dedicated to the jewelry arts. Born out of ideas of modernism and the Industrial Age, this manifested into designs that used Cubism's bold abstraction and rectilinear shapes and combined them with intricate patterning, bold color and symmetry.
High-end jewelry design houses like Cartier and Boucheron set the trends in gold and gemstones, which were then emulated by costume jewelry companies in glass or perhaps plastics, and brought to the masses. _gsrx_vers_1730 GS 9.9.4 (1730).
