In the 1890s, jewellers began to explore the potentials of the growing Profession Nouveau style. Very closely related were the German Jugendstil, British (and to some extent American) Arts and Crafts movement. The Darmstadt Artists' Colony and Wiener Werkstaette provided perhaps the most significant German input to the trend, while in Denmark Georg Jensen, though best known for his Silverware, also contributed sententious pieces. In England, Liberty & Co and the British arts & crafts movement of Charles Robert Ashbee contributed slightly more linear but still characteristic designs. The contemporary style moved the focus of the jeweller's profession from the setting of stones to the artistic blueprint of the piece itself; Lalique's famous dragonfly constitution Diamond Jewelry is unique of the best examples of this. Enamels played a large role in technique, while sinuous amoebic lines are the most recognizable drawing feature

In the overdue 20th century, the influence of latest primitivism led to many of these practices being incorporated into western subcultures. Bounteous of these practices rely on a combination of shape modification and decorative objects; thus decorous the distinction between these two types of decoration blurred. As with other forms of jewellery, the crossing of cultural boundaries is singular of the besides denoting countenance of the artform in the early 21st century.