Art Deco: History and Its Return to Modern Interiors
Art Deco was one of the most influential styles to sweep across Europe in the 1920s. Its reach extended far beyond architecture, leaving its mark on film, fashion, design and the arts at large - and a century later, it's back in interiors. Here's where the style came from, which buildings became its icons, and how we work with Art Deco in contemporary homes at deZZign.
Paris, 1925: The Birth of a Style
One of the movement's defining moments came with the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, held in Paris in 1925. The name "Art Deco" itself came decades later, shortened from the exhibition's French title, but it was this show that introduced the new aesthetic to the world.
In architecture, Art Deco bridges tradition and modernity, drawing on an unusually wide material palette: ivory, jade and lacquer, precious woods, bronze and chrome. Ivory is, of course, off the table today - bone-white lacquers, stone and polished veneers play its part instead. The style also absorbed influences from Japan, China and Egypt, with interest in Egyptian motifs surging after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, and hints of Cubism, bold color and abstract form are woven throughout.
Art Deco borrowed its decorative composition from the Beaux-Arts tradition - clean vertical lines, layered facades and the classic tripartite division into base, shaft and crown. But it brought something distinctly its own to the mix: rationality paired with ornament.
New York and Rio: The Icons
For both Europeans and Americans, Art Deco was a revelation. By the 1930s, the style had worked its way into city architecture and even into the interiors of bourgeois apartments. As it reached the masses, Art Deco grew more restrained, and sturdier materials like concrete and steel entered the picture.
This period produced the style's most iconic landmarks: the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building. They transformed the New York skyline into the one we recognize today, defined by crisp verticals, sharp angles and reinforced concrete. The Chrysler Building's crown is arguably the single most photographed piece of Art Deco anywhere - a stainless-steel sunburst that was a genuinely radical choice at the time, and it remains the clearest visual shorthand for the entire movement. Why the building still poses hard questions for interior designers is the subject of our piece on the Chrysler Building going up for sale again.
New York wasn't alone. Rio de Janeiro holds its own significant examples that capture the style's essence - the Teatro Carlos Gomes and the city's Central Station among them. But the movement's single most famous work, in Brazil and worldwide, remains the statue of Christ the Redeemer, completed in 1931.
Art Deco brought together a striking range of forms and became a substantial chapter in the history of architecture and the arts. It balanced past and present, adding new elements that were entirely its own. It's worth comparing with its contemporaries: the austere Constructivism and the functional Bauhaus, which dropped ornament altogether.
Why Art Deco Is Back
A century after its Paris debut, Art Deco is having a genuine moment again - and not just as a nostalgia trend. In Seattle, buyers renovating pre-war apartments and condos are increasingly asking for interiors that lean into the building's original bones rather than fight them: brass fixtures, fluted paneling, geometric tile work, and lighting that reads as sculptural rather than purely functional. In Kyiv, the same shift is happening from the opposite direction - new-build apartments are borrowing Art Deco's confident geometry and material contrast as a way to feel established and considered rather than generic.
Part of the appeal is practical. Art Deco's core vocabulary - symmetry, defined zones, strong verticals - translates well into modern layouts without requiring a full historical pastiche. A kitchen doesn't need hand-carved detailing to read as Art Deco; a bold black-and-brass color story, a stepped ceiling profile, or a sunburst mirror can carry the reference on their own.
In a contemporary interior, Art Deco usually shows up through a handful of moves:
Geometry: fans, stepped forms, chevrons, arches and fluted panels.
Material contrast: brass and bronze, marble, lacquer, velvet and fine veneers.
Sculptural lighting: fixtures that work as objects, not just light sources.
Saturated color: emerald, sapphire and deep black paired with warm gold.
Symmetry: mirrored compositions around a fireplace, a bed or a dining table.
The key is restraint. Art Deco tips into stage set very easily, so we often pair it with a calmer base - light walls, natural wood, contemporary furniture - and only a few strong Deco accents. That way the room doesn't tire you out or date with the trend.
deZZign's Approach
At deZZign, we treat Art Deco less as a fixed look to replicate and more as a set of design principles: rationality paired with ornament, exactly as the movement's original architects understood it. That means the structural planning comes first - symmetry, proportion and zoning - and the decorative layer, whether brass inlay or a geometric feature wall, gets built on top of a plan that already works. It's part of our interior design service.
For furniture and material sourcing that matches this level of detail, we work in partnership with SV-Group, whose catalog of Italian and European pieces gives us the kind of material precision - lacquered finishes, exotic veneers, hardware detailing - that Art Deco interiors depend on (more in Who Are SV-Group). It's the same reasoning the original architects had nearly a century ago: the style lives or dies on material quality, not just geometry on paper.
A Material Philosophy, Not Just a Look
Art Deco's fondness for eye-catching, high-quality materials connects it to a broader idea we come back to often at deZZign: buildings and interiors that age visibly, and well. The Chrysler Building's crown wasn't stainless steel by accident - its architects wanted a material that would hold its shine and its sharp geometric folds for decades, a way of designing for age rather than against it.
We explore that same idea from a different material angle in our piece on copper-clad architecture, where buildings in Manhattan and Copenhagen are deliberately designed to patinate over time - proof that a building's material choice can be part of its story for decades, not just its opening week.
Whether the reference is a full apartment renovation or a single statement room, Art Deco rewards the same thing it always has: getting the underlying structure right before adding the ornament on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Art Deco different from Art Nouveau? Art Nouveau is built on flowing natural lines - stems, flowers, waves. Art Deco, which followed it, is about geometry: straight lines, symmetry, stepped and fan motifs.
Does Art Deco work in a small condo? Yes, in measured doses. A few accents - brass lighting, a fluted panel, a sunburst mirror - on a calm base look better than full period styling.
What colors are typical of Art Deco? Black, white and gold as the base, plus saturated emerald, sapphire, burgundy and warm beige.
Can Art Deco be combined with minimalism? Yes. Contemporary Art Deco is often built on a minimalist base, where proportion, materials and a few geometric details carry the style.
Want an interior with Art Deco character but without the theatrics? We design spaces where the style works for everyday life, not just for photos.
