So where did it all begin?

Art Deco period is generally thought of as that hiatus between the two great wars of the 20th century, roughly 1920-1940 is the common perception.

To think of it in those terms you will not go far wrong, but of course it is not that simple. Nobody fired a gun as if starting a race saying “Yep this is it, Art Deco has begun!” Neither did it end with an official closing ceremony “You can all go home now folks, Art Deco is over!”

Many other eras in history can be pigeonholed that easily. For instance, the Victorian era. Easy, started when Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne of Great Britain and ended when she died (1837-1901). So then she is succeeded by her eldest son Edward VII and guess what, correct, we have the Edwardian period (1901-10).

Art Deco does not have these definite start-stop dates. It is more of a movement, a feeling, a look, a style.

You can trace it’s roots down into the Edwardian era and even beyond to the Victorian era. A lot of the embryonic design can be found in Art Nouveau. (Another school of thought is that Art Deco was a reaction against the previous Art Nouveau period, but I favour the evolved from theory).

To try to keep it as simple as possible; you can see where some inspiration came from in ‘The Arts and Crafts Movement’ which was toward the end of the Victorian era and more in ‘The Art Nouveau Movement’ which was around the Edwardian period.

Okay, so now a couple of examples are now needed: The designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, William Morris, Erte to name a few come to mind. (Picture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh chair to the right).

Bear in mind, the name itself Art Deco was not heard of before 1925*, yet you will find lots of examples of beautiful Art Deco design waaay before then.