You might have noticed the growing popularity of dramatic interiors with furniture that has naturalistic patterns and muted colors, often in chrome. These interiors and furnishings are regularly featured on TV, in magazines and at the Oscars. This trend is often referred to as “the new trend”. What can my interior look like? That ? The simple answer is “The name of this design style is…” Art Deco furniture.
Art Deco can be used to decorate furniture, architecture, interior design, and other household items. Art Deco can be incorporated into everyday household items. Custom furniture Infusing luxury and glamour into your interiors is a great way to gracefully achieve the essence of luxury. It is common to confuse Art Nouveau, Modernism, and Bauhaus designs with Art Deco. We’re here to help you understand Art Deco and show you how to distinguish it from other styles.
Art Deco Design’s Key Characteristics
Art Deco furniture is unique. It incorporates geometric shapes that often resemble futuristic, sleek forms. Art Deco furniture is often intricately crafted with exotic woods, materials, and lacquer. Inlays of exotic woods like Macassar, zebrawood, and rosewood are used in the craftsmanship process.
The piece is then lacquered with Japanese lacquer, which gives it a brilliant gloss. Once the piece is finished, stunning geometric designs like zigzags and animal forms, stars, sunbursts, and floral patterns will be created. These exquisitely designed pieces will enhance any interior’s visual performance and add a touch of elegance. Extra embellishments can be added to an interior based on the designer’s vision. These include inlays of ivory or mother of pearl. The inlay was usually placed on a sidetable, sideboard or dining table. The addition of shagreen, such as shark, zebra, or snake skin to furniture, seating, and other common household items is another striking feature of this design style.
Art Deco seating elements can include fur, animal hides, serpent skin upholstery and chrome or yellow zinc-plated stainlesssteel. Veneered or lacquered wood is also a standard element. There are three types of seating: dining room chairs, lounge chairs, and armchairs. The French Club chair is an iconic example. It is upholstered and has a stainless steel base. This chair can be used as a substitute for basic arm rests that are either flat or aerodynamic.
Art Deco is also used to create accent pieces like clocks, radios, and other household items. These Art Deco pieces have the following characteristics: Bakelite, semicircles, smooth lines, and muted color palettes of red, green and orange as well as white, black and brown tints. Bakelite is the first synthetic plastic in the world, and was developed by Leo Hendrik Arthur Beakeland, Yonkers, New York. Bakelite’s rigidity, heat resistance and electrical resistance are the reasons why people fell in love with it. In case you are looking for authentic antique pieces, it is important to remember that Bakelite is strong and durable with a shiny, scratch-resistant finish.
Origin and development
Art Deco (or streamline moderne The original name of the design style, Art Decoratifs, was ‘Art Deco’. After the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts DecoratifsetIndustrielsModernes in Paris, this design style was given its “Art Deco” nickname.
Art Deco reached its peak popularity in the middle of 20. Th Century, which was then spread throughout Europe and the United States until the outbreak of World War II. The layers of Art Deco’s success and origin are revealed. This design style was born in France just before the start of the First World War, as a result Art Nuevo’s failure commercially. In Paris, the Societe des Artistes Decorateurs was a group of French professional designers who created Art Deco through experimenting with new forms of design.
The French government sponsored the Internationale des Arts DecoratifsetIndustrielsModernes association as a clever way of promoting French design, since French manufacturers were feeling threatened by new manufactures. The effort was delayed from 1915 to 1925 because of WWI. This decision allowed designers to reflect upon the war and industrialization.
The designs referenced nature, liberation and were influenced by Egyptian, East Asian, and African patterns and materials. It was a huge success after the 1925 Exposition was completed. Many French interior designers and furniture manufacturers became overnight success stories, including Le Corbusier, Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann and Elieen Gray. Designers around the world were also inspired by Art Deco and made their own versions. Paul Theodore Frankl, an Austrian-American designer, created an Americanized version Art Deco.
Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann:
Ruglmann, a French-born furniture designer, was one of the most influential during the Art Deco period. Ruhlman used materials from Brazil and Africa in his designs, including shark skin shagreen and rosewood. Ruhlman’s furniture was simple and geometric, with light and dark woods juxtaposed, and embellishments. They also had a lacquered finish. Ruhlman’s cabinets, as well as other furniture, were displayed at the 1925 Exposition. His works were noted for their exceptional French art deco design.
Elieen Gray
She is a well-known female architect and furniture designer, and her timeless designs are what make her stand out. Th Gray’s vision of Art Deco was a new one. Gray’s furniture was displayed at Salon des Artistes Decorateurs 1913 in her E.1027 construction, and again at the 1925 Exposition in Le Corbusier’s Esprit Nouveau pavilion.
Her innovative and original designs earned her the title of revolutionary Art Deco furniture designer. Gray used the Japanese lacquer technique that she learned from Seizo Sugawa, a Japanese sculptor, and lacquer specialist. She also used Egyptian and East Asian patterns.
Gray also incorporated human figures as well as natural forms like animal and floral motifs, as shown in her “Dragons” armchair. Gray is a great example of a designer who helped to transition Art Deco into Modernism following the Second World War. Gray used tubular stainless steel more often, adopted minimalistic design principles and used a monochrome palette of colors. She also retained geometric shapes.
Le Corbusier:
Le Corbusier is remembered as one of Modernism’s most innovative architects or designers. Le Corbusier was not a Modernist but he started his journey towards Modernism in the Art Deco period. Le Corbusier’s minimalistic Art deco sideboard, “Nouveau Pavilion l’Esprit”, was displayed at the 1925 Exposition. He included unnamed, open spaces and a minimalistic version the Art Deco sideboard. Le Corbusier emphasized form and function more than aesthetics. T
his revolutionized Art Deco, and helped transition the style into modernism. Le Corbusier’s work was unadorned and streamlined, with a monochromatic palette and open spaces and minimal furnishings. This is a key distinction between Art Deco (Art Moderne), and Modernism.
Paul Theodore Frankl
Paul Theodore Frankl is the man who established American Art Deco. Frankl settled in New York City, and started to model French Art Deco according to American tastes. Frankl designed a collection of lacquered geometric furniture pieces, called “Skyscraper Furniture” in 1925. The collection featured Skyscrapers as a symbol of America’s success in commercialism. Frankl used simple surfaces, straight lines, geometric shapes that are continuous, and multiple forms that stack on top of one another.