Art Deco and Functionalism

Glamour and luxury in Art Deco – and the functionalism of the Swedish people's home. Two answers to the question of what the modern should look like.

The 1925 exhibition in Paris, the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs, gave Art Deco its name. The style was elegant and luxurious, with geometric patterns, exotic woods, chromed metal and zigzags inspired by Egypt and the Aztecs.

At the same time functionalism was spreading. Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Eileen Gray designed tubular steel furniture and white houses, and Alvar Aalto in Finland showed that modernism could be warm, in bent birch.

In Sweden the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930 launched functionalism, and the manifesto acceptera followed the next year. Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn created a softer, colourful modernism, and Orrefors and Gustavsberg became internationally known.