20TH CENTURY FURNITURE At the start of the 20th century working class homes had two rooms downstairs. The front room and the back room. The front room was kept for best and children were not allowed to play there. In the front room the family kept their best furniture and ornaments. The back room was the kitchen and it was where the family spent most of their time. Most families cooked on a coal-fired stove called a range, which also heated the room. This lifestyle changed in the early 20th century as gas cookers became common. They did not heat the room so people began to spend most of their time in the front room or living room, by the fire. Rising living standards meant it was possible to furnish all rooms properly not just one. During the 20th century ordinary peoples furniture greatly improved in quality and design. In the 1920s and 1930s a new style of furniture and architecture was introduced. It was called Art Deco and it used geometric shapes instead of the flowing lines of the earlier Art Nouveau. The name Art Deco came from an exhibition held in Paris in 1925 called the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs. In the late 20th century Britain became an affluent society and standards of furniture for ordinary people continued to rise. Two famous furniture designers of the 20th century are Ron Arad (1951-) and John Makepeace (1939-).
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 04:25:00 +0000
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