Chesapeake Home

ART NOUVEAU, GREEK REVIVAL, MODERNISM—Terminology in the interior design world is often tossed about like throw pillows on an oversized sofa, often without much care as to the accuracy of where each plush item lands. Yet, like an understanding of food or wine can improve a meal, knowledge of interior design improves our understanding of the home environment and betters communication between client and interior designer.

Here, ChesapeakeHome looks at the origins and hallmarks of just a few of the styles making an impact on interior design.

 

ARTS AND CRAFTS
When the Arts and Crafts style (sometimes called mission or craftsman style) is thought of in the United States, it often evokes the clean, straight lines of furniture popularized by Gustav Stickley. But according to James Abbott, a Baltimore-based decorative arts authority and author of Jansen (Acanthus Press), to define the era in such linear vocabulary is limiting.

“[The Arts and Crafts style] was a rebellion against the industrial revolution and factory-made interiors and furniture,” says Abbott. “It’s a celebration of everything handmade.” Spanning the period of 1900 to 1920, the Arts and Crafts movement rejected the gaudy ornamentation of the Victorian era and the often shoddy workmanship of manufactured furniture in favor of handmade items—furniture with fine joinery, handmade ceramics, hand-woven carpets, Native American blankets, and rugs. The richness of the style was expressed through the use of beautiful woods, fine leather, and other natural materials. The point was to see the effort of the craftsman in the room.

Abbott explains that one way to capture the essence of the style today is to court furniture makers crafting items by hand, as the movement intended, rather than seeking mass-produced reproductions of the Arts and Crafts heyday.

 

ART DECO
The Art Deco style was born out of the 1925 World’s Fair in Paris, which was a showcase for Europe’s new approach to modern design in the post World War I era. According to John Pile’s A History of Interior Design (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.), “sharply angled and cubist forms; the use of aluminum, black lacquer, and glass; and zigzag shapes that were thought to relate to electricity and radio served as symbols of the modern world.”

Art Deco celebrates the machine age, Hollywood glamour, and innovation.

To that end, the style is associated with architectural, streamlined forms in furniture and the use of gleaming materials such as glass, enamel, mirrors, and metal to cover surfaces. It also embraced exoticism, throwing together tribal prints and unique materials such as sharkskin with designs from the classical, such as columns and fluting. Fabrics are either rich, like mohair, or geometric. An Art Deco interior would feature bright colors such as blue, red, and magenta to create a vibrant room and black for high contrast. “[Art Deco is] a very animated design, yet there’s a cleanness about it,” explains Gary Inman, an interior designer and teacher of interior design history at Virginia Commonwealth University.

 

ENGLISH COUNTRY
“There is a perceived English Country style and then there is real English Country,” says Jean McHale of Gaines McHale Antiques and Home. Inman agrees—“English Country style as we know it is a created style, a construct started by Colefax and Fowler,” he says, referring to the leading British decorating firm. Iconic interior designer Bunny Williams has helped perpetuate the design, and Ralph Lauren has perfected it into a veritable lifestyle. Yet, English Country as it is known in the United States is an Americanized form of its British counterpart.

The style is marked by its comfort and lack of pretentious formality. Rooms are decorated with a complex mix of colors and patterns, such as florals, stripes, and chintzes, and an eclectic blend of items that gives the space a sense of age and accumulation. The layering of heirlooms and antiques, family photos, and collectibles is important to creating a lived-in feel. “The English people were collectors, because they traveled so much,” says McHale. There is also an emphasis on the sporting lifestyle, often carried out in prints and décor related to golf, sailing, or hunting.

The English Country style makes use of soft, upholstered furniture with straighter lines than its French counterpart and little adornment. Typically, pieces are greatly overstuffed with down, so that cushions are constantly being fluffed and squished. Old oak pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries are also usually included in English Country décor.

According to Abbott, the style was brought to America in the 1930s and 1940s as part of the Anglophile craze created by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, then resurged in the 1980s. “[The style] has a historical context, but these 20th-century rooms have a sense that they’ve evolved from the 18th century,” explains Abbott.

 

FRENCH COUNTRY
French Country style is a simplified version of 18th-century design brought into a modern context. The style counteracts the zealous formality and ornamentation idealized in Louis XIV design, utilizing instead furniture frames with Louis XV and Louis XVI carvings. Where the urban style of the time featured marquetry and enamel, the country style used natural finishes, such as lime or pickling, and vividly colored fabrics, which would have been readily available and inexpensive in the French countryside. “The French Country style can be thought of as city forms in country dress,” says McHale, noting that the uncluttered furniture was typically adorned with seashell and rococo carvings.

Textiles would be in what Inman calls the “flag colors,”—red, blue, yellow, and white. And “you really can’t do French Country without toile,” he adds.

Interior designer Charles Faudree epitomizes the application of the French Country style today. In his book Charles Faudree’s French Country Signature (Gibbs Smith, Publisher), Faudree emphasizes the importance of bringing together old and new pieces, collectibles, and colors. “I love the mix of fabrics, blending plaids with florals and old tapestries,” he states. “French Country is a working class style, and I believe it wears well.”

 

BAUHAUS/INTERNATIONAL
In History of Interior Design, Pile states that, “The term [International style] reflects the fact that modernism was not marked by the strong national differences typical of earlier design history.” The International style, begun by Bauhaus school followers in Germany, soon became fashionable the world over. This style leveled the interior design playing field by embracing technology and the industrial age that was emerging with the 20th century.

The International style is often associated with the beginning of modernism and great architects such as Mies van der Rohe, Gropius, and le Corbusier. International stylists rejected anything from the past and felt that the beauty of an object came from its functionality, not its ornamentation. The modular appearance of the architecture and interior design of the time bunked any previous decorative style.

The International style also ushered in the era of the open floor plan. Interiors were strictly proportioned and often based on rectangular plans. Walls, floors, and windows received little treatment, often colored white or gray. Materials were streamlined—chairs were made of chrome and leather, while glass was incorporated into tables and walls. “The forms are very architectural and minimalist,” Abbott explains. Despite the fact that the design was developed in the 1920s and 1930s, many of the original modern pieces remain popular. For example, the Mies van der Rohe “Barcelona chair,” an icon of the period, is still manufactured today.

 

SWEDISH FOLK
Unlike English and French Country, Swedish Folk style is edited and refined, so it can feel very contemporary. The Swedish style recognized today evolved from several key elements of the country’s history and lifestyle: the importance of Gustavian Neoclassicism, the need for light and sunshine, and the abundance of wood.

The brief reign of Gustav III ushered in a Swedish Neoclassicism that was pared down from that of its European neighbors. The Swedes value economy, both in furniture style and placement, and this austere look is still a hallmark of Swedish style. Because Sweden has access to soft woods, that material is fundamental to its furniture and floors. Due to the long dark winters, Swedes value light and playfulness in their interiors, so windows are usually left bare or with little ornamentation, and rooms and furniture are painted in pale greens, soft yellows, washed blues, and ecru, colors that evoke sunlight and spring. Occasionally there will be touches of whimsy, usually in the form of stencils on walls or furniture.

The overarching theme of economy applies to the use of textiles, too. Fabrics are usually simple checks, stripes, or uncluttered florals, used with a spare hand.

French and English Country, Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, Bauhaus, and Swedish Folk are just a handful of the many styles you might find yourself liking, but there are many more. You may also find that you love mixing elements of a variety of styles. What’s important is knowing how to communicate what you like to designers, home furnishings professionals, and others. Understanding basic lingo will help the professionals you work with help you to develop interiors you love. “I’ve always been a proponent of cultural literacy,” says Inman. “Life is more interesting if you understand the built environment. We all live in homes, and understanding how we define those spaces enriches our lives.”

Christianna McCausland is a Contributing Editor to ChesapeakeHome.

Contacts:
Charles Faudree Antiques and Interiors: charlesfaudree.com
Gaines McHale Antiques and Home: gainesmchale.com or 410-625-1900
Gary Inman: 804-358-7506

Suggested Reading:
Charles Faudree’s French Country Signature, by Charles Faudree (Gibbs Smith, Publisher)
Swedish Style: Creating the Look, by Katrin Cargill (Frances Lincoln)
A History of Interior Design, by John Pile (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)
History of Interior Design and Furniture: From Ancient Egypt to Nineteenth-Century Europe,
by Robbie G. Blakemore (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)
The French Touch: Decoration and Design in the Most Beautiful Homes of France, by Daphne de Saint Sauveur (Bulfinch Press)

For more related readings CLICK HERE.