At the dawn of the twentieth century, the world yearned for a new design style that would embody contemporary
culture. Efforts to create a design language suited to the needs and tastes of the modern world took shape
during the first decades of the new century, crystallizing in Paris with the 1925 Exposition International des Arts
Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. The Art Deco period encompassed a multitude of decorative influences,
including the updating of historical styles, the introduction of exotic elements and the adaptation of avant-
garde art currents such as the geometric abstraction of Cubism.
Not a single style or a unified movement, Art Deco is a design idiom that reflects a decorative approach to
designing appealing consumer goods during the interwar period. Encompassing every discipline within the
applied arts, Art Deco manifested itself to some extent everywhere around the world, perhaps the first design
idiom ever to do so. Art Deco’s fundamental appeal lay in its decorative qualities, which consumers found
attractive and glamorous. From skyscrapers, locomotives, automobiles and ocean liners to fashion, advertising
and everyday home furnishings and appliances, Art Deco style captured the imagination of designers and
consumers alike