More and more I am coming across the influence of Art Deco and Art Nouveau in today’s design.
It’s not the pure form of the 20s and 30s that we have come to know through history books and the leftover architecture like that which is so rampant here in Los Angeles.
Nor is it a straight take from the 80s, where the Art Deco movement saw its first resurgence with elaborate black gloss frames, tons of curves in brass and velvet with folds, plus lots of blush and mint color combinations. Think Miami decadence with old Hollywood Glamour.
Nope, it’s fresh and its focus is on color and shape and here is what that might look like in a modern application.
Sometimes I don’t have the confidence to come up in here telling y’all what I think is inkling its way towards the scene, but the last time I had this feeling it was about the Memphis Style, and we have seen plenty of confirmation that while people aren’t 100% sure why, they are accepting of this wild style from the 1980s.
I look at firms like Consort Design, the Citizenry, Aelfie, and well just about every graphic that accompanies a Refinery29 article for confirmation.
Interestingly enough, the Memphis style has its roots in Art Deco, so it makes sense that we’d be looking back to the 20s and 30s as an evolution of this recent shift in interests.
When I moved back to Los Angeles in 2009, I was pretty excited to get to see the Viceroy hotels by Kelly Wearstler with my real eyes. She seems to draw from this same place. Additionally I had a roommate at the time that leaned a bit regency in her heart of hearts, so I thought about this style a lot at that time. I was tossing words to her like So Cal Casual, and she was batting them away hard. Hanging plants and rattan were gross and too low brow to her. When I look back at those days (think chevron and shiny) I’m fairly turned off personally by the thought of that Hollywood influence sneaking its way back into my face.
It’s glam, and while I might still find appreciations for the luxe quality of the materials, velvet, brass, lucite, quartz, the combo with rich color combinations is what is dead to me.
So, this new art deco influence is a bit more edgy. It’s matte black and geometrics, it’s graphic prints next to of the moment solids in complex navy, blush, mint, army green. It’s color and texture blocking. It’s mixing metals like brass alongside industrial blacks. It’s simple and bold shapes, curved furniture lines. It’s like art deco and midcentury got together, had a kid named Frances Bean and she went to art school and now she’s almost fully grown up but she’s still got a youthful naivete.
