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Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) By the late nineteenth century, designers across Europe were looking at nature differently. The Art Nouveau movement brought flowers, leaves, insects and flowing lines into furniture, architecture, glass and jewellery. What interested its designers was the structure of nature as much as its appearance: the way a stem curves, the uneven edge of a leaf, the pattern of a wing. This changed the way materials were used. René Lalique, for example, became

Some materials become associated with particular objects; for example, marble suggests architecture, and leather suggests books and furniture. Brass is more difficult to place. For much of history, it appeared wherever careful workmanship was required. It was shaped into vessels and mirrors, worked into jewellery, struck into coins and fitted to objects intended for daily use. Its history is less defined by a single purpose than by its ability to move between them. Claudius B

Broche in de vorm van een narrenkop René Lalique, c. 1897 - c. 1899 Credit: Rijksmuseum In 1900, René Lalique presented a series of enamel ornaments at the Paris Exposition that departed from many of the conventions of fine jewellery. At the time, precious stones remained the clearest expression of value. Diamonds, rubies and sapphires dominated the conversation. Lalique took a different approach. Enamel occupied the centre of his work, not as an embellishment but as a materi