What is Art Deco

In the United States, Art Deco was a product of new ideas and movements and found its inspirations in many distinct early 20th Century European design styles such as Cubism, French Art Deco, German Bauhaus and Expressionism, Dutch de Stijl and Amsterdam School, Vienna Secession and others.

The term Art Deco came into common usage in the 1980s as public interest in the style was renewed and is generally used to cover several distinct periods. Art Deco became known as the Skyscraper Style for the buildings that sprang up in every big city in the mid to late 1920s. This was classical Art Deco, as first popularized at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925, featuring expensive materials, angular yet voluptuous with elaborate motifs of fountains, nudes and flora.

The second phase of Art Deco known as Streamline Moderne, began with the stock market crash and ended in most cases with the outbreak of World War II. It was less decorative—a more sober reflection of the Great Depression. It relied more on machine-inspired forms, and American ideas in industrial design. It was buttressed by the belief that times would get better and was infused with the optimistic futurism extolled at America’s Worlds Fairs of the 1930s.

What to look for:

Over-all symmetry, ziggurat (stepped) rooflines, glass block, decorative sculptural panels, eyebrows, round porthole windows, terrazzo floors, curved edges and corners, elements in groups of three, neon lighting (used in both exteriors as well as interior spaces).

Mirrored Furniture

The economy was flourishing and society started taking an interest in luxury goods.

One of the most luxurious and glamorous investment would be mirrored furniture.

Art Deco Mirrored Sideboard
Black Orchid Interiors
0844-854-2794

Lacquer

And for added glamour, the woods would be treated with a high-gloss lacquer finish. This gave the pieces a very rich and sleek look. This is typical of Art Deco style.

Less expensive woods were used as well - maple, oak and ash for example. To give the woods that rich, slick look, several coats of lacquer would be slathered on top.

Wood Inlay

Wood inlay was a very popular furniture style during the Art Deco era. This style can be seen in classic Art Deco sofas and armchairs.

Art Deco Sofa - Wood Inlay
icollector.com
604-941-2221

Marquetry

Another popular style was marquetry, "the craft of covering a structural carcass with pieces of veneer forming decorative patterns, designs or pictures." Dressers, armoires and dining tables would be embellished with this type of craft.

Typical Art Deco marquetry patterns were very geometric in shape - for example, zig-zags, sunbursts and chevrons.

Art Deco Macassar Ebony and
Maple Marquetry Chest
Bruno Paul (1874-1968)
www.christies.com
Redstone Pre-Sale Facility
47-50 33rd St. (33rd St. Entrance)
Long Island City, NY 11101
Tel: + 1 212 974 4500

Metal finishes

The 1920s are commonly referred to as the Machine Age. This is when industry and manufacturing saw a huge boom.

Factories started pumping out products at lightning speed. The rise of sophisticated machinery allowed for mass manufacturing of all types of goods...planes, trains, automobiles and a multitude of other common every-day products like radios, lamps etc.

So it's only natural that furniture would also have a 'futuristic-machine' aesthetic. This was most easily achieved by using metal accents and finishes.

Art Deco Chrome Plated Metal Lounge chair
Doehler Metal Furniture Company
John B. Miller, New York.

Leather

To keep with the theme of luxury and glamour, only the most buttery-soft, rich leathers were used for furniture. Armchairs, sofas and ottomans were upholstered in the finest leathers. Typical colors were black, brown and tan.

However, the leathers would also be dyed in super bold art deco colors like cherry red and tangerine orange. The Roaring 20s were a time of great prosperity and happiness, so sunny, bright colors came into fashion. These colors reflected the overall cheerful spirit of the times.

Art Deco Leather Club Chairs
www.1stdibs.com
(For online auction)

Luxurious embellishments

Another furniture trend that arose during the Art Deco era was luxury embellishment.

Art Deco furniture pieces would have added accents of luxurious stones, quartzes and jewels. Some of the more popular accents were onyx, jade, ivory and murano glass.

Interior accent pieces like lamps, chandeliers, wall clocks and radios would contain elements such as these as well.

All of the pieces together would create a very rich, modern and overall luxurious look.