Custom Furniture in Art Nouveau Style
William Doub Custom Furniture designs and builds exquisite Art Nouveau style furniture and architectural interiors. We asked them to give us a bit of history on the Art Nouveau style and its impact on furniture design.
DEFINITION AND HISTORY OF ART NOUVEAU FURNITURE
Art Nouveau refers to an international movement and style of art that was prevalent across Europe between 1890 and the beginning of the First World War (1914). Art Nouveau furniture is characterized by an emphasis on organic forms and curvilinear lines often derived from sources in nature. Ornamentation was often integral with the sculptural form of the piece, which emphasized floral and plant elements, and could merge wood and ironwork. Applied decoration included inlaid glass, marquetry and ceramics, as well as gilded elements.
Art Nouveau Breakfront by William Doub Custom Furniture at CustomMade.com
At its peak, Art Nouveau was a stylistic approach to design that impacted everything from architecture and furniture to decorative and applied arts, integrating art with everyday life. In 1895, the Parisian art dealer Samuel Bing opened an art gallery to show the ‘new art’- “Maison de L’Art Nouveau”, and further popularized the style in his installations at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. There Bing installed rooms fully decorated in the Art Nouveau style, containing furniture, textiles, tapestries, and other fine and applied art objects. These installations became the foundation of the French Art Nouveau, from which the entire movement took its name.
Art Nouveau Bed by William Doub Custom Furniture at CustomMade.com
Furniture designers Louis Majorelle and Victor Prouvé founded the Ecole de Nancy, in Nancy, France. This served as a center for Art Nouveau that included the art glass foundry and furniture manufacturing of Emile Galle. Other significant French Art Nouveau furniture designers were Hector Guimard and Emile Gailliard, whose mastery of the sweeping organic line served as a signature of the style.
Art Nouveau Bed Carving by William Doub Custom Furniture at CustomMade.com
Art Nouveau emerged concurrently in several European venues. In Belgium the style was developed with the help of the architects and furniture designers Victor Horta and Henry Van de Velde. In the United Kingdom, it drew upon the English Arts and Crafts style in the 1880s, and can be seen in the furniture and graphic designs of Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo. In Germany, it was also known as Jugendstil, German for ‘youth style’, and merged into the Vienna Secession.
Art Nouveau Round Door by William Doub Custom Furniture at CustomMade.com
About William Doub Custom Furniture
William Doub is committed to designing and building quality furniture and architectural interiors. His furniture business has close to thirty years of experience fulfilling corporate, commercial and residential contracts. As a master woodworker, his knowledge of design and construction techniques assures that the customers vision can become a reality. www.customfurniture-doub.com
If you are interested in seeing more examples of custom furniture in the Art Nouveau style, visit us at CustomMade.com.
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I really like how this type of custom art nouveau furniture emphasizes the nature of the world; flowers, plants, branches, grass etc. This post is fantastic.
The Art Nouveau style was used excessively in the set design of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, especially in the elven and hobit homes. The style has a whimsy and playfulness that other styles lack and that I have always found breathtaking. Thank you for your post and for the pictures that accompany it, it has inspired me in some of my artistic ventures and I greatly appreciate it.