Art Deco Collection

The French called it 'Style Moderne', the rest of us used the label 'Art Deco'.

It was a new creative approach which originated in France as a reaction to the florid excesses of Art Nouveau. The new style used some of the flowing curve elements from Nouveau, intermixed with sharp angles, bold colours and a simpler, more dynamic character.

Art Deco profoundly influenced every area of creativity. If you were Scottish, you would think of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School of Art. Americans would counter with the Chrysler building, Rockefeller Centre and the Empire State building in New York. There were new and stylish developments in ceramics, poster, jewellery, interior and furniture design. It ushered in a new age of design technology influencing everything from locomotives, aircraft, caravans and buses to cars and motorcycles.

It gave us Harley J. Earl, Jean Bugatti, Figoni and Falaschi, Saoutchik.

It gave the world a new concept - styling. Cars and motorcycles became more than just mechanical engineering. Function gained new and stiff competition from form. Technology and engineering met art. The results were some of the most flamboyant, beautiful and ground breaking automotive designs ever created.