www.housebeautiful.

com
/design-inspiration/a35998298/shanghai-art-deco/

How Shanghai Became a Capital for the Art Deco Movement

Stefanie Waldek ⋮ ⋮ 9.07.2021

1. Design Inspiration
2. How Shanghai Became a Capital for the Art Deco Movement

Shanghai Art Deco is still prominent today throughout China.

By Stefanie WaldekPublished: Jul 9, 2021

John Bessler. From "Prints Charming: Create Absolutely Beautiful Interiors with Prints & Patterns," by Jason Oliver Nixon and John Loecke.

You might be totally surprised to hear this, but Shanghai Art Deco is a design movement that originated in...Shanghai. We kid—the name is pretty self-explanatory. But you
probably weren’t aware that China had its own Art Deco movement, one that’s extremely visible throughout the city today. While the futuristic skyscrapers in the Lujiazui
financial district might be the first thing you think about when imagining Shanghai, the city has an eclectic architectural history that’s resulted in one of the most impressive
enclaves of Art Deco buildings in the world.

1/7
The Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai, an Art Deco icon.

2/7
FAIRMONT HOTELS & RESORTS

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

What Is Art Deco?

Before we get into the intricacies of Chinese Deco, we have to examine the roots of Art Deco as a whole. The movement grew out of Art Nouveau in the early 20th century,
generally as a reaction against traditionalism in design and art in favor of technological modernity. Its name, Art Deco, refers to the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs
et Industriels Modernes in Paris, the 1925 fair where the style official made its debut.

While the style was popular in Europe, it really flourished in the United States, where wealth was booming, and cities were growing at a rapid pace—some of the most famous
buildings in the country, like the Empire State Building in New York, feature the ornamental style, whose signature characteristics include geometric patterns, streamlined
linearity, and luxe materials.

More From House Beautiful

Send us an invite, please!

Video Player is loading.

Current Time 0:08

Duration 15:36

Loaded: 4.98%

00:08

Stream Type LIVE

Remaining Time -15:28

1x

Chapters

Quality
1080p
720p
540p
360p
270p
auto, selected

descriptions off, selected

captions settings, opens captions settings dialog

captions off, selected
English

default, selected

This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

Text

Background

Window

3/7
 Font Size

Text Edge Style

Font Family

End of dialog window.

Replay "This Super-Swanky Teen Hideout Is the Ultimate Sleepover Space"

Up Next

06:17

Design School: Alexa Hampton

06:17

4/7
05:09

Design School: Bunny Williams

05:09

05:58

Design School: Rayman Boozer on How to Best Use Color in Your Home

05:58

5/7
The atrium of the Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai.

FAIRMONT HOTELS & RESORTS

How Did Art Deco Reach Shanghai?

During the late Qing Dynasty, from the 18th to the early 19th centuries, Shanghai transformed from a fishing village into a major port city that facilitated global trade. During this
time, design inspiration largely flowed from East to West, with Europeans becoming fascinated with Chinese style from imported goods. (Ultimately, this is what spurred the
popularity of Chinoiserie in Western high society).

Eventually, trade wars broke out—the First Opium War between the Chinese and the British ended with a British victory and the conversion of Shanghai into a “treaty port,”
meaning it was largely controlled by Western powers, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Germany. As such, large enclaves of Westerners popped
up across the city.

From the 19th into the 20th century, Shanghai became a global metropolis. Between the 1920s and 1940s—the peak years of the Republic of China, which was established
after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912—Shanghai prospered, which primed the city for the introduction of lavish Art Deco style. Both Chinese architects who studied abroad
and Western designers who moved to Shanghai brought the movement into China, where it took on its own identity and became one of the most popular styles incorporated
into the city’s architecture and design.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

After taking several trips to Shanghai, Jason Oliver Nixon and John Loecke of Madcap Cottage designed this Shanghai Art Deco–inspired apartment in Manhattan, as featured
in their book Prints Charming: Create Absolutely Beautiful Interiors with Prints & Patterns.

JOHN BESSLER

What’s the Difference Between Shanghai Art Deco and Western Art Deco?
“In America, Art Deco was really celebrating the machine. If you look at something like the Chrysler Building, you know they took things like hubcaps and transformed them into
architectural motifs,” says Jason Oliver Nixon, cofounder of Madcap Cottage. “If you go to Shanghai, you're getting a reinterpreted Art Deco that was bringing in traditional
Chinese motifs and patterns.” Designers also incorporated sumptuous Chinese materials like lacquer, ivory, local woods, and silks into their Art Deco creations. “It was a little bit
more sensual,” says Nixon.

In terms of architecture, while Shanghai Art Deco buildings included the symmetry, geometry, and scale of Western Art Deco, they maintained certain traditional elements, such
as pagoda-like roofs—a lasting symbol of the meeting of East and West from which they grew.

Follow House Beautiful on Instagram.

6/7
7/7