Empire Style 1804 1815

Louis XIV, regency, rococo, neoclassical, empire, art nouveau, and historicist pastiche: furniture styles march across French history as regimes rise and fall. In this extraordinary social history, Leora Auslander explores the changing meaning of furniture from the mid-seventeenth to the early twentieth century, revealing how the aesthetics of everyday life were as integral to political events as to economic and social transformations. Enriched by Auslander's experience as a cabinetmaker, this work demonstrates how furniture served to represent and even generate its makers' and consumers' identities.

This book looks at what was fashionable for women at the end of the Regency Era in Britain and the reconstruction in Europe after the wars. Lifestyles were freer and fashions expressed this by becoming the focus of most women's lives. A wardrobe full of opulent accessories was requisite.

Neoclassicism refers to the revival of classical art and architecture beginning in Europe in the 1750s until around 1830, with late neoclassicism lingering through the 1870s. It is a highly complex movement that brought together seemingly disparate issues into a new and culturally rich era, one that was unified under a broad interest in classical antiquity. The movement was born in Italy and France and spread across Europe to Russia and the United States. It was motivated by a desire to use ideas from antiquity to help address modern social, economic, and political issues in Europe, and neoclassicism came to be viewed as a style and philosophy that offered a sense of purpose and dignity to art, following the new “enlightened” thinking. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Neoclassical Art and Architecture contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries cover late Baroque and Rococo tendencies found in the early 18th century, and span the century to include artists who moved from neoclassicism to early romanticism. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about neoclassical art and architecture.

From ancient Greece to Frank Lloyd Wright, studiola to smoking rooms, chimney boards to cocktail cabinets, and papier-mâché to tubular steel, the Encyclopedia of Interior Design provides a history of interior decoration and design from ancient times to the present day. It includes more than 500 illustrated entries covering a variety of subjects ranging from the work of the foremost designers, to the origins and function of principal rooms and furnishing types, as well as surveys of interior design by period and nationality all prepared by an international team of experts in the field. Entries on individuals include a biography, a chronological list of principal works or career summary, a primary and secondary bibliography, and a signed critical essay of 800 to 1500 words on the individual's work in interior design. The style and topic entries contain an identifying headnote, a guide to main collections, a list of secondary sources, and a signed critical essay.

The “INTERIOR DESIGNER” has the task to make interiors more functional and to increase their value. Once you are in charge of a project, it is better not to try to create weird shapes, although they could look nice, because the client may or may not like them; the house that you are redesigning today, sometimes for a full renovation, may be resold in the near future to buy a bigger house or a different house from that desired by the client; then the problem of the sale would arise. The space that you are designing must satisfy the market standards; their value will have to increase and at the same time the clients needs to be satisfied. For this reason, the project will have to think about all these things, unless you find a very wealthy client that does not want to consider such rational elements because he wants the result to be exclusive: for instance a sheik. Let’s go back down to earth to consider a client’s expectations in general: He/she expects from you a house that satisfies his/her needs within a regular and ordinary life with appropriate concepts of aesthetics and functionality, with finishes compliant with his/her “STATUS SYMBOL”. During the appointments with your client, try to use the correct words, (this could also be good as a general habit), talk softly, try to articulate your words well, show enthusiasm and flexibility while talking; never say “no” strongly, prefer instead “we will see that later”, always think before giving an answer, don’t ever be hasty or inaccurate. If you don’t know the answer, take your time and give priority to some other topics that you consider as more important. Therefore, it is necessary to have a design education together with the ability to synthesize and a knowledge of materials and above all colors, as they are important for choices; every client has preferences that you’ll have to take into account: this is where you need more ability as the client’s favorite colors may not give the results you expected: it would be good to use your experience and show the psychological aspects of colors and their functions. In order to obtain a rational composition of the project, the interior designer must learn to listen the client very carefully to best interpret his/her expectations, otherwise the project will surely not be successful: the designer will then be forced to reject the assignment with a resulting negative promotion. A secret and a strength for the interior designer is also the ability to take quick and firm decisions and take on responsibilities about the choices taken. He/she should moreover examine all the material that the client will bring for the design; furniture elements, colors, type of doors, floors, coverings, wall finish, etc... These documents will give a quick summary of the client’s desires and expectations: magazines, press clippings, Internet sites where he found ideas. For the work to be successful and not to waste time and to retain the client, all of these documents must be precious to you, you can’t neglect them, as many usually do, erroneously believing that the client will accept the designer’s needs. All the projects need an investigation work, the designer has the task to consult specific magazines, specific interior magazines, to see other people’s houses, also those shown on TV. An idea or a cue can come from anything, even a thought, provided that we keep a flexible and open attitude towards any comparison.