Design Primer : Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau (literally “new art”) also known as Jugendstil, Stile Liberty, the Whiplash style, Modernista) was a short lived but explosively creative period from around 1895 up to the first world war, although exact dates are a grey area. Based around inspiration from the natural world and with a foundation in the decorative arts (rather than the fine arts such as painting and sculpture) Art Nouveau is found across many disciplines but arguably found its most exquisite expression in glass, metalwork and jewellery. Although the sources of the shapes and forms are varied, the crucible of the movement is generally considered to be Brussels in around 1893 where pioneers Victor Horta & Henri Van de Velde were creating some extraordinary domestic interiors. Very soon, the movement spread across borders to France especially in Paris and Nancy, and with the opening of Maison de l’Art Nouveau by Siegfried Bing in 1895 it became a fully-fledged commercial movement, and found a name. The major protagonists at this time are now household names – Lalique, Daum, Galle, but at the time these were fledgling businesses, the core emphasis being on quality and small scale production. In Vienna the Wiener Werkstatte was producing similarly beautiful objects, key to this were the designers Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser. The regionalism of this movement is one of its most fascinating aspects – in the UK Charles Rennie Mackintosh, in Spain Antoni Gaudi, in Germany Peter Behrens – and these are just a few of the many talents at work over this short period. As well as the natural world, the other overriding symbol of the movement is the female figure – a timeless inspiration to artists, but when treated with the sensuality and schizophrenia of the fin de siècle imagination, it often became altogether more symbolic of the neuroses of the period.

Art Nouveau continues to be an inspiration to designers and elements of the canon can be seen in cultural icons like the Biba brand, psychedelic posters of San Francisco in the 1960’s and even Frank Gehry’s architecture. Across the many years of utilizing strong prints in the brand, Roberto Cavalli has frequently called upon Art Nouveau, but like the best design, it can be reused and reinterpreted time and time again