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Scroll.in
02-06-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
In Hyderabad, the international style of art deco reveals itself in homes, with personal touches
Most discussions about the influence of the design style of art deco in India seem to focus on impressive buildings in Mumbai or Chennai. But tucked away in Hyderabad are quieter, equally elegant structures inspired by the subtle geometry and streamlined elegance of the style. – homes, commercial buildings, banks, schools, universities and cinema halls. In Hyderabad, art deco reveals itself gently, in understated domestic settings, with deeply personal touches. Presented in 1925 at an exhibition in Paris called the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, art deco percolated into many spheres of design, from jewelry and furniture to automobiles and even saris. In Hyderabad, the first art deco buildings were constructed in the 1930s and were in vogue till the late '50s. It was deployed by architects such as Mohammed Fayazuddin, Zain Yar Jung, the Austrian Karl Heinz and Eric Marret from Britain. Only around 1,000 art deco buildings remain in the city, bearing typical features of the style such as stylised floral patterns, sunbursts and vertical windows. Making an appearance Anuradha Reddy, historian and convenor of INTACH Hyderabad, credits architects Fayazuddin and Heinz for the city's art deco heritage. Her granduncle, the Raja of Wanaparthy, Ramdev Rao, built one of the first art deco buildings in the city for a new home he was building in the early 1930s. It is now the Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology. Heinz came to Bombay as a refugee in the 1930s, fleeing Hitler's crackdown on the Bauhaus art movement. He made his way to Hyderabad thanks to the German Circle, a cultural group with close links to the country. Fayazuddin, said Reddy, had been educated at the JJ College of Architecture in Mumbai and then in the UK. 'Later on, while returning to India from England, he came via Spain and was greatly inspired by the Moorish architecture of the country,' she said. After devastating floods in 1908, Hyderabad began growing outside the old city. Newer areas such as Banjara Hills were being developed. The aristocracy of the princely state of Hyderabad were inspired by the flamboyance of the art deco style, which was already being embraced by royalty elsewhere in the country. Many had encountered this new style during their travels to Europe and were keen to follow the latest trends. These architects used the topography of the Deccan to build grand structures that came to be seen as symbols of a new age. They used geography and elevation of the area to great effect. Confluence of styles Indian art deco is unique because it used design elements from older periods in a decorative manner, said architect G Srinivas Murthy of the Architectural Design Foundation. 'Indian art deco has adopted elements from different styles – the jharokas and floral patterns from the Hindu temples, the pointed arches and jaalis from the Islamic architecture, the chaitya or the arch from the Buddhist viharas, and the columns and the grand staircases from Europe,' Murthy said. Hyderabad, with its influences from the Qutb Shahi and Asaf Jahi dynasties, incorporated the style and gave it a new syntax. From motifs like the swastikas and Om symbols from the Hindu lexicon to the geometric patterns on the city's older Islamic buildings, the Hyderabad art deco language had a syncretic vocabulary. Some buildings by Heinz were designed in the forms of ocean liners and airplanes, as did several art deco buildings around the world. Fayazuddin's designs, which include the Salar Jung Museum and the State Bank building, retain influences from Moorish styles. A rare repository Art deco buildings are characterised by the distinct use of curvilinear forms, parapets, rounded staircases (which gracefully resemble parts of circles) and place an emphasis on horizontality rather than verticality. 'Sunshades that swirl around a building, the top of boundary walls in the form of waves that rise and fall, as well as circular grills, are other distinct features of the style,' said architect Yeshwant Ramamurthy. Jeera Colony in Secunderabad is a treasure house of this style: around 30 sprawling art deco houses still survive. Built by Gujarati migrants in the 1940s, it is a residential enclave with pastel facades, decorative balconies (with motifs ranging from parrots and lotuses and even a boat) and the in-situ terrazzo finish flooring that makes this street a portal into the past, even as the rest of the city surged forward. Other prominent art deco structures in Hyderabad are the Arts College at Osmania University, the Zinda Tilismath building, the State Bank of Hyderabad in Gunfoundry, the Congress Bhavan, Arya Samaj Mandir, Niloufer Hospital and the State Central Library at Afzal Gunj. Many are dotted across older colonies in the city, including the bylanes of Afzal Gunj, Padma Rao Nagar, Himayat Nagar and parts of Secunderabad. The future of these buildings, though, is in question as many are increasingly being demolished (including the Secunderabad railway station in February). As Hyderabad marches into the future, its art deco legacy stands at a crossroads, caught between reverence and redevelopment. Why are these structures important and in need of being saved? 'Why is the Charminar important?' said Reddy. 'Why were the participants of Miss World [held in Hyderabad at the end of May] taken to the Old City and not the gleaming glass buildings of Hitech City? Because heritage tells us the story of who we are, and art deco tells us of an important period of our heritage where we married international design with local sensibilities.' Added Ramamurthy, these art deco buildings are 'anchors to the sensibilities of a city and showcases its history'.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ooh La La! Art Deco Exhibition Ends Today
Exactly one hundred years ago, the most fashionable designers from around the world gathered in Paris to debut an entirely new kind of modern design. The Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes launched the style we now call art deco, and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles has been celebrating all weekend at one of L.A.'s most magnificent secret spaces, the Oviatt penthouse. The private residence of clothing magnate James Oviatt sits 12 stories above his magnificent men's store on Olive Street downtown. The boutique closed in 1967 and sat empty for decades. His widow lived alone in the penthouse until she died eight years later. The space was restored in the 1980s and is occasionally open for special events. Today is World Art Deco Day, and until 9pm, guests and club members will be mingling amidst icons of decorative arts from the 1920s at 'Art Deco Tous Les Jours'—an original exhibit of stunning period artifacts including textiles, furniture, fashion, fine art, and a newly recovered painting long lost to the Oviatt. 'They can come see the exhibit and enjoy our centennial cocktail menu curated from period books by our vintage cocktail expert,' the society's executive director Margot Gerber tells Los Angeles. 'We'll have French music and curator talks in the gallery explaining the significance of the original expo and how it impacted Los Angeles.' Los Angeles City Hall, the Wiltern, and the Eastern Columbia building were all influenced by the style. The 1925 Expo sent shockwaves around the design world, inventing a whole new design vocabulary that found its way to fashion, architecture and everyday household objects. Suddenly, everything from vacuum cleaners to clocks went modern. A zeppelin-shaped cocktail shaker will be on view near original fabrics and souvenirs from the Expo, including some very expensive playing cards that were intended to be sold in Oviatt's clothing store. They're displayed near a carved bar that Oviatt had sent back from the original Parisian expo. The Art Deco Society is cooking up months of fun to celebrate. More outings to vintage venues like the Queen Mary, Tam o'Shanter and Yamashiro for their popular Cocktails in Historic Places series are on the roster. L.A.'s legendary Bullocks Wilshire department store, a temple to commerce and art deco, opens June 7 for a lecture on jewelry history of the 1920s and a perfumier will address the group at the Saban theater in Beverly Hills on June 29 to discuss Jazz Age fragrances used in everything from perfume to chocolate. What will become of L.A.'s mini expo tonight when the doors close at 9? 'When we wrap we'll just bulldoze it into the Seine river,' Gerber jokes. 'That's probably what they did in 1925.'
The Independent
10-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Everything you need to know about 2025's hottest home trend
It was a design exhibition in Paris in 1925 – the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes – that introduced Arts Décoratifs, to the world. This was shortened to Art Deco, and its hallmarks of geometric shapes, luxe materials and rich jewel colours would become an iconic look that would usher in a new era for interiors and be in fashion for years after the exhibition opened. Looking forward after the destruction caused by the First World War, the exhibition organisers stipulated that historic designs would not be permitted. The result was striking modern pavilions showcasing highly decorative but steam-lined motifs including chevron sunbursts, zigzags, stepped designs and stylised floral elements. Inside, beautiful burr woods were fashioned into stylish cabinets, chandeliers in angular shapes teamed glass with gleaming metallics and richly coloured fabrics glowed against dark woods for a sense of elegance and glamour. During its six months, the exhibition attracted about 16 million visitors and generated worldwide demand for Art Deco, which continued throughout the following decades and into the next century. 'It threw off the fustiness and heaviness of 19th-century antiques and offered a new, truly modern type of furniture – simpler, more streamlined but still made with the finest materials and skilled craftsmanship that harkened to an earlier age,' says Anthony Barzilay Freund, editorial director of 1stDibs, the luxury vintage online marketplace for whom Art Deco pieces are a strong seller. Art Deco's most famous architectural icons are arguably the Empire State Building, its striking stepped design reaching for the sky, and the Chrysler Building with its emblematic terraced crown. In London, Claridge's hotel in Mayfair is renowned for its Art Deco features such as its geometric patterned stained glass. 'Art Deco was also about a vision for how people could live a modern, glamorous life,' says interior designer Bryan O'Sullivan who, when he recently revamped Claridge's, was mindful of its heritage. 'It was the first time design was truly seen as something that could elevate daily life, combining beauty with functionality.' It also fizzed with optimism and glamour, qualities that people were eager to embrace after the preceding decade. 'Its cultural significance is one of the reasons why it remains so popular all these years later,' says Emma Deterding, founder and creative director of Kelling Designs. 'It symbolises optimism, progression and resilience – qualities that really resonate in uncertain times.' This is perhaps why, beyond its centenary, Art Deco continues to inspire today and, indeed, is roaring back into fashion. A 2025 survey of designers carried out by 1stdibs found that a majority plan to use objects dating from the 1920s and 1930s in their designs over the next 12 months. Popular pieces include club and lounge chairs, desks, side tables and rugs. 'It seems to bridge eras – pre-industrial and post-industrial, the antique and the modern,' says Freund. 'Deco feels almost timeless and the furniture and objects can comfortably fit into design schemes of almost any style.' 'Metallic finishes in gold, brass and chrome are staples that bring in luxury and glamour to a space, whilst the movement's focus on symmetry and patterns, such as sunbursts and chevrons, create an eye-catching statement that is timeless,' says Nathan Kingsbury, creative director of Nathan Kingsbury Design. 'It's a design style [that's] all about opulence and indulgence, and materials like luxurious velvets, marbles and exotic woods combined with rich, jewel-toned colour palettes keep it as a go-to aesthetic for sophistication.' 'It's incredibly versatile,' says O'Sullivan. 'You can incorporate a single Art Deco piece into a modern space, and it will still feel relevant and sophisticated. In my own work, I often draw on its sense of proportion and its use of rich, tactile materials. For example, I might incorporate a brass inlay, or a mirror feature in a way that feels contemporary but pays homage to Deco's elegance. It's about creating spaces that feel layered, luxurious, and timeless – just as Art Deco always does.' To introduce Art Deco into your home, go bold with wallpaper featuring its typical geometric motifs or introduce the design through tiles on a kitchen or bathroom floor. A striking rug will also elevate a room, or if you prefer just a touch of Art Deco, pop a patterned cushion or two onto an armchair or sofa. Look at luxurious fabrics such as velvet in rich, warm colours. Statement pieces are also a brilliant way to introduce the beautiful, sculptural lines that Art Deco is renowned for. An eye-catching chandelier in an angular shape will add impact and style to a room, or a shapely mirror above a mantelpiece or console table in a hallway. Finishes that gleam are also key to achieving a luxe look so think gold, silver and chrome, along with lacquered wood and glass. Stick, though, to a pared-back colour palette – Art Deco often features just two colours such as black and white or gold against deep blue or green. Just be careful that you don't go back to the future too much and create a room that is a pastiche. Kingsbury says: 'For a fresh look, combine Art Deco designs with contemporary elements, to create a beautifully, balanced, and modern, result.'
