Even more so, in the field of jewelry, the value of creation was no longer linked to the preciousness of the material, but to stylistic innovation. Nature and life became the new sources of inspiration for art: insects and flowers, which had always been relegated to the field of science, became the new iconic motifs. Fluid and sinuous lines animated any expression of figurative and decorative art, as every object, belonging to everyday reality, had to reflect the taste of the new era. The widespread interest then in oriental cultures had given the shapes of jewelry a strong stylization, like three-dimensional silhouettes . Mother of pearl, opalescent glass, shells, ivory, combined with the liquid and brilliant colors of enamel they were the new precious materials.

The greatest goldsmiths representing the Art Nouveau style were the French.
René Lalique (1860-1945) is the one who transformed the jewel from a bearer of mere decorative values, to an instrument of stylistic diffusion, a sign of the creative genius who had conceived it. His pieces were made mainly of non-precious materials such as horn and glass .

Following the example of Ashbee's Guild of Handicraft , Joseph Hoffmann (1870-1956) and Kolo Moser, together with the industrialist Fritz Waerndorfer, founded the Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese Workshops) in Vienna in 1903. In 1905, Carl Otto Czeschka (1878-1960) collaborated with the Wiener , providing designs for jewelry featuring plant and animal motifs. The workshops finally ceased operations in 1932.