Jewelry That Calls to Mind Fine Art

Some jewelry artisans, like Eun-Mi Han of Le Conte, literally base their designs on aspects of fine art. Her Pasto Collection, for example, features textures that are found in the pasto oil painting technique--wherein the paint has been applied thickly, with visible brush or palette-knife marks. Similarly, Eun-Mi's Sgrafitto Collection features enamel being used to create the two-toned "scratching" technique used in both painting, pottery, and other artforms.

Other jewelry artisans, like Alex Sepkus, happen to create designs that viewers often remark on the incidental similarity to other artists' works. Most commonly mentioned regarding Alex Sepkus jewelry is the Austrian symbolist painter, Gustav Klimt. Another common reference is to the Catalonion architect, Antoni Gaudí.

Yet other jewelry artisans, like Lluís Masriera, came from a family of fine artists, and blended delicate painting techniques with goldsmithing to produce one of the most prolific and everlasting collections of Art Nouveau plique-à-jour enameled jewelry. Lluís Masriera, unlike the other Art Nouveau jewelers of his day, was the only one to have the foresight to make metal (as opposed to degradable rubber) molds for his artworks. Because of this, one can procure Masriera Art Nouveau jewelry that is created today from an original antique mold, and have it not be classified as "reproduction."