I absolutely LOVE art deco architecture. You’d be hard pressed to find an art deco building interior or exterior I don’t like. Yet the furniture, knick nacks etc., associated with art deco I find almost universally hideous. Anybody else feel the same way?
I’m with you on the furniture and most jewelry but I like a lot of art deco things, like cars, tea/coffee services, clothes, graphic design/ fonts, and statuary. I like Arts and Crafts furniture, which is similar to AD.
You should visit the Oregon state capitol building, which was built in the Art Deco style in the 1930s. The traditional capitol dome is replaced with a fluted cylindrical structure.
Yeah, art deco architecture, classic and brilliant. Art deco furniture OTOH is not that far off from super-campy “atomic age” and “space age” furniture of the 50s and 60s to me.
Art Deco was around at the time that air transport was becoming a thing, so you get some wonderful airport buildings. Here are a couple from the UK: this is Shoreham Airport; and here we have The Beehive (you might have to open that in a new tab; click on gallery), which was the original Gatwick Airport terminal building (now offices).
There was a movie theater we sometimes went to as a kid that opened in 1928. There were statues in the lobby and the ceilings were painted and, I think, sculpted. Really cool place, looks go still be open. I’d forgotten it was used in the opening credits of At the Movies until I read the wiki page below:
No, I love me some art deco furniture. The geometric and minimalist kind, anyway. And also the object design. Everything here, for instance, is awesome. And the two grills here.
I love everything Art Deco. I collect Art Deco fashion pochoirs, and I’d love to be able to afford some Cartier jewelry!
I don’t hate Art Deco furniture, but I’ve found that it doesn’t “work well with others.” An entire room/home done in Art Deco style is fine, but specific Art Deco pieces don’t always fit into more eclectic interiors.
In New Zealand, there was an earthquake in 1931 in a place called Hawke’s Bay, so when the replacement buildings were built in the towns of Napier and Hastings they were all in Art Deco style, which has since become part of their tourist appeal. So architecture is what I think of most often.
But I do like some of the furniture, such as radiograms and cupboard/wardrobe/dresser things.
Tulsa was about the richest city in the world in that era, and a lot of oil money got expressed in art-deco buildings. A road trip companion persuaded me to stop and see it, and it was awesome.
Art Deco is not nearly as strange as midcentury modern. Well, some of the animal statues are as weird, but the actual furniture is much more dignified than the spindly legs and bristling ceiling fixtures that run rampant through the 50s and 60s.
My MIL collected vintage art nouveau jewelry boxes and Art Deco celluloid vanity sets, which no one in the family really wanted but how could I say no? The vanity sets I’ll never unpack but I could see the trinket boxes being put to good use as gifts maybe.