Interior Trends
Art Deco Starts With Geometry, Not Gold
Art Deco is remembered for gold and velvet, so that is what people buy, and the result can end up looking like a hotel bar. The style was never really about the metal. It is built on geometry and symmetry.
Look for repeated shapes: fans, sunbursts, chevrons and stepped edges. Then arrange the room so one half answers the other. Use a pair of lamps rather than a single one, and centre a mirror over the fireplace instead of pushing it to one side.
Here is a quick test. Stand in the doorway and see whether the two halves of the room balance. Get the shapes and the balance right and the room will still read as Deco in grey. Brass is the last five per cent, not the first.
