The modern style of furniture is fundamentally sound, and does have a permanent place in the field of interior decoration, says Miss Mabel Russell, of the applied art staff

Watkins, Jessica

English

The modern style of furniture is fundamentally sound, and does have a permanent place in the field of interior decoration, says Miss Mabel Russell, of the applied art staff.</p

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THE lOW A HOMEMAKER 11 Modern Furniture Comes Into Own • • • T HE modern style of furniture is f undamentally sound, and does have a permanent place in the field of interior decoration, says Miss Mabel Rus-sell, of the applied art staff. "Just as the World's Fair· of 1893 de-finitely influenced the taste of people to-ward the Renaissance style for 25 years following, so will the 1933 World's Fair have a strong emphasis on the trend to-ward modern design in furniture,'' she believes. ''At the present time, many of the best designers in the United States are designing furniture in the modern manner. '' While the modern design is compaTa-tively new to the average buyer in this country, it is really not a new thing. The trend toward modernistic houses and furniture, according to Miss Rus sell, began in Europe as early as 1899. Designers in Germany, Sweden, Austria and France were all working in modern design before the World WaL By 1910 complete interiors were being designed in Europe in the modern manner. PEOPLE in this country first became aware of the modern trend in design at the time of the International Exposi-tion in Paris in 1925. At this time the United States had nothing in modern de-sign to exhibit. Miss Russell believes that with the background which it has, modern furni· ture can not in any way be considered a fad. It is a definite part of the age in which we are now living. ''The fussiness of the furniture of past periods, Miss Russell believes, is passing. This is a different age aJJd it is foolish to try to impose fumiture and design of past periods on people living in the pre-sent. The thing that designers are try-ing to do is in keeping with developments in other lines," she says. The aim in the new furniture is for good design, pleasing proportion, and durability and comfort. It is built on sturdy lines, simple in design; the at-tention is given to structural lines 1·athe1· than applied design. The square, the circle and the rectangle are the basis for most of the designs, and horizontal lines are dominant. Metal is used ex-t ensively in the con.struction, and ma11y new and lovely woods have been intro-duced in furn1ture making. " B EAUTY of line and color and com-fort combined with durability are outstanding features of this fumiture, '' said Miss Russell. ''Interiors are often planned as an entire unit rather than as Jessica Watkins Interviews Miss Russell individual articles, and furniture group-ings are often constructed together-.such as a sofa and bookcase or desk.' ' The greatest difficulty in the adoption of this furnitme is that it is difficult to use effectively in combination with other styles. Miss Russell believes that expense of entirely refumishing the house will prevent the use of modem furniture in many ca.ses. Also, modern furniture to be at its best should be in a house of corresponding style, and as yet these have not become common in this country. It has, however, been used in apartments to quite an extent. Many people are expressing a r eal in-t erest in f urnit ure in the modern man-ner. When mass production makes mod-ern furniture less expensive and more modern houses have been built, the new style in furniture will no doubt be ·more generally used . ''In selecting modern furnitm·e,'' Miss Russell says, ''we must con.sider-as in buying any other furniture-beauty · of proportion and line, durability, suitabil-ity of materials used, color, and its rela-tion to ·other articles of furniture and to the house in which it is used.' ' If you want to send a decorated cal<e by mail, the box should be large enough to allow for cut or crushed paper between the box and the cake, but not too large 01· the cake will slip around and the frost-ing will be ruined. Modern Furniture Is Simple Ooul'tesy Du Pont Magazine 

Modern Furniture Comes Into Own...

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2601&amp;context=homemaker

Modern Furniture Comes Into Own...

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