The Distinctive Style of Art Deco Furniture
Art Deco furniture is always in high demand and here at Regent Antiques, we offer a meticulous selection of this timeless and highly distinctive style.
The Art Deco style of the 1920s and 1930s, which took its name from the 1925 Paris Exhibition, The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, was the first truly modern style of the 20th century. Art Deco furniture and other decorative arts reflected the optimistic atmosphere that came after the end of World War I – Hollywood film-making, leisure pursuits, the growth of commercial activity, and advertising all influenced the design of the time. Until the late 1970s, Art Deco items attracted little interest among collectors, but since then, the popularity of collecting Art Deco has increased enormously.
The standard themes of the Art Deco style included traditional decorative elements such as bouquets of flowers, animals, and figures of young maidens. However, these were always stylised and angular rather than naturalistic. They were often combined with purely geometric patterns such as chevrons, zigzags, sunbursts and lightning bolts. This emphasis on stylisation and abstract and repeated forms was very much influenced by the growing impact of the machine – automobiles, trains, and aeroplanes – as well as by the art movements of the early 20th century such as Cubism and Futurism.
(A stunning Art Deco birdseye maple dining set, circa 1930 in date.)
Art Deco furniture around the world
Art Deco furniture designers combined luxury and practicality in their products and created both traditional types of furniture as well as more innovative forms.
In France, traditional Art Deco furniture was typified by elegant styles looking back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Furniture produced during the earlier Art Deco period was an expensive luxury. Makers used exotic wood such as macassar ebony, amboyna, palisander and amaranth, and ivory inlay. After 1925, French makers started to incorporate the new materials that were part of the Modernist aesthetic including chromium, aluminium, and tubular steel. These designers created functional furniture for mass production.
(A striking antique French Modernist gilt two-tier drinks trolley)
Similarly to the French designers, in the early 20th century, Dutch, German, and Scandinavian furniture makers rejected ornament and experimented with new materials such as chromium and plywood. They designed specifically for machine production and aimed to create standardised and functional furniture accessible by a broad range of consumers.
In Britain, many major designers used elements of the Art Deco style in their furniture, while remaining true to their Arts and Crafts roots, making little use of lavish ornaments or exotic woods. Instead, light woods such as sycamore, limed oak, walnut and burr-walnut were used.
(A stylishly shaped Art Deco walnut display cabinet, dating from the 1920s)
Inspired by European immigrants, American furniture designers also explored new materials such as tubular metal. American Modernism was relatively small-scale, but it set the stage for a generation of industrial designers who from the 1930s reshaped interiors with flair. In particular, American Art Deco furniture falls into three broad categories: commercial copies of formal French pieces in exotic wood veneers and inlay; innovative avant-garde work; and industrially produced, mostly metallic and laminated wood furniture based on Bauhaus concepts. This third category is much collected today.
(An elegant valet stand in chrome made in the Art Deco style)
To sum up
The characteristic shape and style of Art Deco furniture is what makes it so attractive – smooth curves, unusual angles and iconic shapes all play their part. Art Deco furniture was always polished to a very high gloss which gave it its brilliance. The aim of Art Deco was to emphasize the elegance of the basic form and the value of the materials in the simplest possible way. Today, many years after the Art Deco period came to an end, these stylish designs are as popular as ever and Art Deco furniture is still in demand and highly sought after by enthusiasts and collectors all over the world.
In addition to being Art Deco furniture dealers, we are also pleased to offer a range of very chic Art Deco and Art Deco style objects – from statues to clocks and lighting to ice buckets. Indeed, whether you incorporate Art Deco furniture into your home or just add a decorative Art Deco object into the mix, the style is certain to elevate your space to another level!