Looking at Jewelry: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques

Looking at Jewelry: A Guide to Terms, Styles, and Techniques

by Susanne Gänsicke (Author), Yvonne J. Markowitz (Author)

What is a cabochon, exactly? What are the different kinds of gilding? What exactly is vermeil? This user-friendly book, which is the first of its kind, provides succinct definitions of key jewellery words. Personal adornment is a shared obsession. It’s a primitive, instinctive, and distinctly human preoccupation. Jewellery refers to a seemingly infinite number of ornaments produced across history and throughout cultures. With new substances and fabrication methods added with each generation, the variety of materials and techniques used in its construction is remarkable, even groundbreaking. Master artisans have dedicated their time, resources, and creativity to the fine art of jewellery making in any given society, producing some of the most beautiful artifacts known to humanity.

This book starts with a lively introduction that provides a cultural history of jewellery and its creation, aimed at jewellery designers, academics, scientists, students, and fashionistas alike. The main text covers materials, techniques, manufacturing processes, and the most popular, iconic, and culturally significant types of jewellery. This guide, which includes more than eighty colour illustrations, will be invaluable to anyone who wants to learn more about jewellery and appreciate it.

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