Art Deco Tutti Frutti Bracelet
©2020 by Cynthia Rutledge

The term "tutti frutti" sounds like a bubble gum or a dessert, but in reality, it is a name given to a style of high jewelry designed by Pierre Cartier. The story goes that in 1901 Queen Alexandra of Great Britain, commissioned Cartier to create a necklace. The original inspiration was a set of three Indian gowns Queen Alexandra had received as a gift, which inspired the bright color choices for the carved gemstones. In this case the stones were emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds set in platinum.

The style has an east meets west aesthetic, which was wildly popular in the 1920's, but only gained its fun name in the 1970's. In the 20's, exoticism was all the rage. India's princely families had magnificent gem collections refashioned by Cartier and other Parisian jewelry houses. The Europeans, in turn, fell in love with India's precious gems and its crafts.

Art Deco Tutti Frutti Bracelet is the result of a blend of designs, the Art Deco era with its angles and Tutti Frutti with the riot of colors. These styles come together in a fashionable bracelet using cubic-right-angle weave (CRAW) and peyote stitch. A central oval CZ is bezeled and surrounded with CZ-set cup chain. Four colors of bezeled CZ's brighten the central component. Flat, odd-count peyote stitch strips link the central component to the side component, leading to the CZ embellished clasp.

Skill Level: Intermediate to advanced. Having a good understanding of CRAW will be most helpful.

Workshop length: This is a 1-day workshop.

Dimensions: The center component is 2.5 inches by 2 inches dropping down to 1 inch wide by desired length.

Techniques:

• Cubic-right-angle weave (CRAW)

• Edge-stitching techniques

• Netting

• Netting to peyote stitch techniques

• Odd count, flat step/up and step/down peyote stitch with decreasing

• Tubular and even count peyote stitch