This lavishly illustrated book presents outstanding examples of one-of-a kind jewelry from the 1940s to the present drawn from the collection of the Museum of Arts & Design in New York. The 240 pages guide the reader through a fascinating diversity of materials, technique and approaches that make contemporary jewelry visually exciting and intellectually stimulating. No longer dependent on gold and gemstones, these creations demonstrate that commonplace aluminum, rubber, glass, paper, thumbtacks, and even salvaged gun triggers can be made into dazzling jewelry.The international nature of today's jewelry is fully represented with established luminaries as well as emerging artists in the field from the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia including Gijs Bakker, Robert Ebendorf, Hermann Junger, Sam Kramer, Otto Kunzli, Linda MacNeil, Margaret DePatta, Bruno Martinazzi, Gio Pomodoro, Wendy Ramshaw, Art Smith, Kiff Slemmons, David Watkins, and Anna Maria Zanella. The book contains a foreword by Holly Hotchner, Director of the Museum of Arts & Design; essay by Ursula Ilse-Neuman, Jewelry Curator of the Museum of Arts & Design, surveying major trends in contemporary jewelry over the past 75 years; and, over 200 full-color illustrations of works from the Museum's Permanent Collection.