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LAVISH, HIGHLY ORIGINAL furniture created by designers working in Spain and Italy represented the most exotic form of Art Nouveau.
Italy called the style Stile Liberty, after the London shop at the forefront of the movement, or Stile Floreale, due to the nature-inspired decoration that characterized the movement. Italy had a rich tradition of decoration based on nature, from Roman mosaics to the grandiose style of Baroque (see pp.40-41). The new style – on show at the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts at Turin – was taken up by artisans such as Ernesto Basile, a master of Stile Floreale; the prolific designer and cabinet-maker, Carlo Zen; and Eugenio Quarto. Quarto’s exquisitely carved pieces were praised for appealing to Italian tastes and modern living needs, rather than replicating northern European Art Nouveau designs.
CARLO BUGATTI
However, it was Carlo Bugatti who held pride of place as a designer of extraordinary originality. Bugatti established workshops in Milan in 1888, where he created an eclectic interpretation of Art Nouveau, based upon flowers, animals, and plants, Egyptian, Byzantine, and Moorish influences, Japanese art, and fantasy.
The handcrafted furniture produced in Bugatti’s workshop – desks,
cabinets, chairs. and settees – was not well constructed but had a rustic, imaginative charm. The furniture often combined useful features, such as tables with built-in cabinets. and chairs that incorporated lamps. Pieces used a wide range of sumptuous materials including silk, leather, and vellum for upholstering chairs and covering boxes and tabletops, and ebony, bone, mother-of-pearl, and metals, which were used as inlays.
The range of Bugatti’s influences can be seen in his use of soft, warm colours, textiles, and strips of beaten or pierced metal evocative of North Africa, and the distinctive shield
backs, crescent legs, and pinnacle and minaret-shapes inspired by Istamic motifs. Bugatti caused a sensation with the furniture he designed for particular settings, such as the prize-winning Moorish interior he created for the Italian Pavilion at the 1902 Turin International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts.
While Bugattis early furniture was robust, with lively, complex patterns, he later developed a more restrained style that depended on a palette of pale colours and serpentine curves, influenced by the Parisian Art
Nouveau designers.
SPAIN AND GAUDI
A band of Catalan architects, led by Antom Gaudi in Barcelona, brought the Art Nouveau style to Spain. A daringly original designer, Gaudi created idiosyncratic furniture that embraced nature with its sinuous shapes and lavish use of decorative flower and plant motifs. Gaudi’s furniture featured several practical elements, such as cupboards that incorporated small tables. He often worked in oak, and much of his furniture was created for his
sculptural buildings, such as Casa Milo and the Guell Palace. Other Spanish champions of Art Nouveau included cabinet-makers Gaspar Homar and Juan Busquet, who were known for their fantastic furniture.
Parlour, designed by Agostino Lauro True to the concept that the room should be designed as a unified whole, all the elements of this parlour follow the same sinuous styling. The built-in bookcases are an integral part of the wall design
and the furniture echoes the curves of the panelling.

ITALIAN CHAIR
This Italian side chair was designed by Giacomo Cometti and is made of carved oak. The sinuous carving on the back of the chair confined to the splat, and the basic shape of the chair is uncluttered by ornate decoration. The upholstery is attached to the seat with small brass studs. c.1902.
SPANISH CABINET
This corner cabinet is made of oak. It has a round top with two curved glazed doors at the front. The doors are divided into six panels of glass by sinuous wooden partitions. The interior of the cabinet has two shelves and the piece stands on three legs. 1904-05.
ITALIAN SIDEBOARD
The upper section consists of a central cupboard and drawers flanked by open storage. The lower section contains a marble-topped cupboard. Cometti was an artist-turned craftsman who originally trained as a sculptor. He was heavily influenced by the English Arts and Crafts
Movement. c.1902.

NUT WOOD ARMCHAIRS
This pair of dark stained armchairs was designed by Carlo Bugatti. Each chair is decorated with inlaid pewter and embossed copper banding. The seat and back are upholstered in natural leather and further embellished with woollen tassels. c.1900.
ITALIAN INLAID SIDEBOARD
Made by Carlo Bugatti, this sideboard shows Japanese, Moorish, and Egyptian influences. The doors are covered with vellum, and the upper door is hinged and drops down to reveal shelving and small drawers. The whole piece is contained within a four pillar construction; the frame is made of brown stained and
OCCASIONAL TABLE
This mahogany occasional table by Carlo Bugatti has a top inlaid with pewter and bone and circular marquetry, and sides with stylized florets and roundels. The legs feature embossed bronzed coverings. Early 20th century.
PRAYER BENCH
This prayer bench, designed by Antoni Gaudi, has a curved back, with flat armrests and a slightly bowed seat. The bench is supported on slender and elegant curving legs, which are linked by stretchers. Early 20th century.

ALTHOUGH THE Art Deco style had its origins and greatest success in the West, it also found voice in the East.
INDIAN GLAMOUR
Despite a strain of social conservatism and an economy that remained sluggish and underdeveloped, Indian designers welcomed the aesthetic ideals and stylish visual viewpoint promoted by the fashionable modern taste for Art Deco favoured by the colonialists. Appreciation for, and support of, the Art Deco style was also fostered by designers who had emigrated to India from Central and Eastern Europe, taking with them a
keen knowledge of the style, along with a calculated eye to receiving patronage from wealthy, cultivated, and influential benefactors.
At the heart of the Art Deco style in India was Mumbai (then called Bombay), the centre of international communication and a thriving port. Here, the mercantile classes and the Westernized ruling communities came together with the development of the Back Bay area between 1929 and 1940. The Development Trust insisted that all the buildings conform to the same architectural style to ensure “uniformity and harmony of design”. The style was an elegant, streamlined, yet decorated
form of Art Deco. By the end of the 1930s, Bombay contained nearly 300 cinemas, all of which were glamorous Art Deco palaces, both inside and
out. The sophisticated and luxurious residences commissioned by wealthy Indian princes also reflected the Art Deco style. The furniture often combined the “high-style” French Art Deco with native decorative traditions.
EAST ASIAN AFFINITY
During the 1920s and 1930s, a lot of the Japanese and Chinese architecture, interiors, and furnishings were inspired by the Art Deco style. Much of Art Deco’s inspiration — simple design,
spare, nature-inspired decoration, and the use of sumptuous, exotic materials such as lacquer, ivory, and mother-of-pearl — came from the traditions of East Asia in the first place, so there was
already an affinity between the two.
Throughout Japan, and especially in Tokyo, economic and industrial development after World War I was accompanied by democratization and cultural change. Western ideas were promoted through exhibitions and’
The abstract curving lines are executed in different
The curved, geometric handle enuilales tho linc, of the top of tl)(, ctrl and lock, the
The outer frame is created from one continuous piece of bent Wood publications, and by Western designers themselves. The Tokyo earthquake of 1923 left a devastated city ripe for renewal, and many of the new buildings reflected the Art Deco style. Numerous cinemas, cafes, and dance halls were built, their interiors filled with modern materials such as aluminium, glass, and stainless steel.
In China’s thriving metropolis of Shanghai the spirited Art Deco style was appropriated and assimilated by
The Umaid Bhawan palace, Jodhpur, India
Known as the “Paris of the East”, Shanghai was a prosperous and cosmopolitan city of business and pleasure. The American Art Deco style dominated in the new high-rise hotels, apartment blocks, offices, department stores, cafes, and restaurants.
The 12-storey Cathy Hotel, built by Palmer & Turner in 1932, set the tone, with its green pyramidal roof and Art Deco features. The Grand Theatre, designed by Czech-Hungarian emigre Laszio Hudec, was a monument to Hollywood glamour with its sparkling Art Deco interior, complete with a  lohby and neon lighting.

This large Chinese screen has a striking central panel made of jade, which is carved to depict a pavilion and figures under pine trees. The panel is set within a fretwork frame. c-1930.
JAPANESE CHEST
CHINESE HARDWOOD CABINET
of the two outer drawers. The upper shelf above each drawer is formed from a piece of wood cut out of the side of the chest and bent horizontally. Black lacquer is used to define the outer rim of each of the doors and to set off the abstract design that decorates them. The curving, asymmetrical patterning in shades of red, orange, and gold blend with the overall streamlined form of the chest as well as contrast with its symmetry. 1937.
This boldly curving, geometric chest features a trailing smoke design in gold and coloured lacquer. It was designed by the leading Kyoto lacquer artist Suzuki Hyosaku 11, who was a member of Ryukeiha Kogefkai (the Streamline School Craft Association). Continuous pieces of bent wood create the outer frame, the frames of the two central doors, and those
The case of this cabinet is rectangular in outline with rounded corners. Two panelled doors open onto two sections, one with two shelves. The case stands on moulded bracket feet. c.1930.
CHINESE JADE TABLE SCREEN
The drawer handle is shaped like the individual elements of the patterns.

Nowhere was the desire for the fashionable and the modern better demonstrated than in the luxurious palaces designed by Western architects for the wealthy and sophisticated Indian princes.
One such palace, built with an eye for practical considerations as well as for the latest style, was built by the German architect Eckart Muthesius. Commissioned in 1930 by the Oxford-educated Maharajah of Indore, Yeshwant Rao Holkar, Muthesius designed an air-conditioned, “U”-shaped palace known as Manik Bagh. Containing private apartments, as well as a large ballroom, a banqueting hall, and guest rooms, it had a steel frame, concrete walls, and a wooden roof.
Muthesius was personally responsible for designing all the interiors and created a stylish and modern palace to Art Deco, resplendent with sparkling golden-yellow walls. Nearly all of the fittings that he designed, from
Manik Bagh side table This table was designed by Muthesius. The ultra-modern geometric form of the table echoes the “U” shape of the palace.1930-33.
floors and window frames to light fittings, switches, and door handles, were ordered from companies in Germany and shipped out to India. The furniture was bought from some of the best French designers, mainly from the Union des Artistes Modernes.
Muthesius furnished the palace with lavish pieces made from sumptuous materials. The Maharajah’s study contained fine Macassar ebony furniture by Emile-Jacques Ruldruann, while his bedroom featured an armchair by Eileen Gray and a chaise longue by Le Corbusier, covered in leopardskin. The beds in the palace were made of aluminium and chrome, and the deep leather armchairs had Frames of chrome-plated band iron and built-in reading lamps. There were also plush carpets by Ivan da Silva Bruhns, and silverware by Jean Puiforcat.
Tubular steel side chair This chrome-plated chair is covered in brilliant red vinyl and was commissioned by Muthesius for Manik Bagh. 1930-33.
JAPANESE SCREEN
This wooden screen was designed by Ban-ura Shogo. The spare, asymmetric pattern of flowers and foliage was created with different-coloured lacquers and is typical of Japanese design. It provides a decorous foil for the geometric shape of the screen. 1936.
JAPANESE RADIO
This wooden hyperbolic radio was designed by Inoue Hikonosuke. Lacquer was a favourite material for Japanese designers working in the Art Deco style. The powerful stylized flower shapes of luminous gold highlighted with silver foil stand proud against the glossy black-lacquer background. 1934.