Art Deco and Industrial Design

 

Industrial design transformed furniture by creating it as more modern, utilitarian, and mass producible. The movement had been inspired by designers like Raymond Loewy, Gilbert Rohde, and Russel Wright. Loewy introduced modern and sleek designs, Rohde developed modular furniture, and Wright focused on affordable, trendy furniture items for the house. New materials like plywood, tubular steel, and plastics made furniture lighter, cheaper, and easier to mass-produce. This shift allowed more people to own attractive, useful furnishings, which would later influence later modern designs.  Art Deco, which was born during the 1920s, was opulent, flashy in form, and sumptuous in material.

                        Industrial Design Dinnerware                                   Modern Dinnerware

The 1925 Paris World's Fair encouraged Art Deco's refined and geometric taste. Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Jean-Michel Frank, and Eileen Gray were some of the designers who created luxury furniture using exotic woods, lacquer, and metals. Paul Frankl brought Art Deco to America, producing furniture that was skyscraper-inspired. Jean Dunand and Maurice Dufrene supplied decorative arts, and Michel Roux-Spitz used Art Deco in architecture. The transitional painter Tamara de Lempicka defined the modern, slender look of Art Deco design. Art Deco pieces of furniture were modern and elegant but gave way to simpler, more contemporary styles in the 1940s. Its dramatic, stunning designs still inspire luxury interior design today, however. Both industrial design and Art Deco transformed furniture—albeit one made it functional and affordable and the other made it a piece of art and an object of glamour.

     

                        Industrial Design Bed                                          Modern Application 

                        Art Deco Lacquered Sideboard                            Modern Lacquered Sideboard

           

     

One Step Further

Raymond Loewy was a renowned industrial designer who made products look modern and trendy. He worked on trains, appliances, logos, and streamlined the Coca-Cola bottle. He was inspired by industrial design and was interested in efficiency, beauty, and being easy to produce. His MAYA (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) philosophy was to design objects that looked new but felt familiar. Loewy's minimalist, clean forms expressed the machine age and characterized modern consumer products. His work with corporations like Shell and Exxon helped make design a critical element in business success. In his view, proper design should enhance daily life and still be functional and appealing.