The Antwerp Diamond Museum inaugurated an exhibition about Art Deco on September 26. This is the first time that diamond jewellery from the art deco period (1920-1939), deriving from Belgain private collections has gone on show alongside top quality pieces by Belgain and French jewellery houses. Among the Belgain jewellers were Wolfers and Massaux and the French jewellery houses of Cartier, Boucheron, Fouquet and Laloche Frres were the ones who flourished during this fascinating time.

The 1920 's were an exciting time to live in. Fortunes were being made and spent with ease thanks to the prodigious industrial growth of the era. Money began to be concentrated in new hands, especially bankers and industrialists and society started to take on a whole new look. Also after World War I, which was a time of hardship, people wanted luxury and beauty, comfort and freedom.

Women were gaining emancipation. Short dresses (not minis), skirts and trousers were now being worn and they were now following new role models, the first real Hollywood stars like Mary Pickford, Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich among others. Glamourous frocks and costly jewels were the order of the day.

Diamonds were also in plentiful supply due to the discovery of the South African mines at the end of the nineteenth century. It was acceptable to flaunt one ’s wealth and the noveaux riche ruled the roost. It was a new and exciting era and design reflected it too. The flowing natural lines of Art Nouveaux were relegated to the past and instead clean lines, linear and geometric forms and contrasting colours helds sway.

These new stylistic elements were very much in evidence at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes which took place in Paris in 1925. It was this exhibition that lent its name to the new style : Art Deco.

The most popular items of art deco Jewellery for the daytime were the brooch and the (double) clip. Belgain firms are represented in the exhibition mainly by monochrome examples from the later art deco period (1930 - 1939), the so called " white period ". There are also many jewels in vivid constrasting colours from the early art deco period as well, which were inspired by Egyptian, Chinese and Japanese influences.

The Jewellery collection is supplemented by visual material and accessories such as an evening bag by Janesich, a powder compact and lipstick holder, a cigarette case by Cartier, etc. One of the highlights of the exhibitionis an original photo book of art deco designs from which customers made their choices. It derives from the House Massaux , which later merged with Emile Anthony and Wolfers Frčres to become ANTHONY (Antwerp). All the photographs are arranged according to category and all the designs are numbered.

Accompanying it is the Massaux Design Book, which is a collage of design and sketches. Some of the sketches correspond exactly to the items that appear in the photo book. Both books are on display together with design sketches from the Wolfers Frčres archives in Brussels.

The Jewellery exhibition is accompanied by an exhibition that encompasses the entire era between the two World Wars and presents a picture of what life was like in Belgium at the time. The exhibit covers such diverse area like the Red Star Cruise Line, the 1930 World exhibition that was held at Kiel in Antwerp, the Imalso tunnels, which were the first to connect the right and left banks of the River Schelde as well as the graphic art of the period. It was a time for experimentation, a time for the celebration of modernism and all its symbols like trains, ships, aerodynamic aircraft and of course, the skyscraper.