Art deco "has a sense of drama and glamour, exuberance and decadence" says Tatjana von Stein

London-based designer Tatjana von Stein often draws on art deco in her work. For our Art Deco Centenary series, she talks about why the early 20th-century style is still so influential and how she uses it in interiors today.

Von Stein has always been drawn to art deco design, something she attributes to her European roots.

"I'm half French, half German, so I think I've got that kind of European essence that's followed me without realising," she told Dezeen. "It's been a very unconscious movement that has been living within me."

Art deco, which first rose to popularity after the first world war and came to influence many different areas of contemporary society, also had a sense of celebration that Von Stein aims to bring to her projects.

"The movement was really integrated into society as a whole – there was a decadence and a celebration and it always had that sense of glamour," she said.

"You think of art deco in the 1920s and 30s, we're all kind of rolling around with a glass of Martini having a good time. I always want to try and make that happen," the designer, who is a Dezeen Awards judge this year, added.

"But jokes aside and more importantly, it's a movement that came to influence fashion, art and design; you've got the type of fonts, the architecture, and so on."

Von Stein sees the art deco movement as a precursor to modernism and often references it in her own design, which she describes as "precise".

"It was before the more contemporary modernism, so it still had a bit of that richness and opulence, but it was so integrated with industrialisation and heavy engineering," she said.

"My design – while theatrical in essence and sometimes in feelings – is precise; you don't see me designing things which are super organic-y, it is quite precise and sleek."

Art deco often combines streamlined, sleek shapes with more luxurious and opulent materials to create a sense of life and movement.

This is something that Von Stein aims to recreate in her own work, which includes the art deco-esque Mise en Scène furniture collection.

"You've got lacquers, glass, metals, wood, marble, but they're all quite precise and I use a lot of geometric forms. Everything is often rounded and undulated and moving, still very precise, which is where that engineering comes through," she added.

"[Art deco] is an era that is opulent but also has a huge amount of engineering, and I'm interested in that juxtaposition. There are various parts of it from a feeling point of view; it has a sense of drama and glamour and a kind of exuberance and decadence."

Among Von Stein's recent projects is 60 Curzon, an apartment block in London's Mayfair neighbourhood that was designed in an art deco style.

Inside, she created a flat whose interior was filled with art deco details in a nod to the building's exterior. One of the ways in which she referenced the style was by adding reflective materials, such as mirrors and lacquers.

"What I love about reflection is that the room keeps moving," Von Stein said.

In the hallway, she fitted a mirrored ceiling to create this effect, adding a geometric pattern with an art deco feel, while in the living room, a decorative sun on one wall evokes the way in which art deco designers used exoticism, drawing on designs from ancient Egypt.

This was made from plaster and attached to the wall before being painted in a silk effect to look like it was emerging from the wall itself.

"The sun was my favourite piece because I really love it when you have things that are coming from the walls and ceilings and the architecture, which is very art deco," Von Stein explained.

"There's an element of symbolism in it but it was very nature-driven, which still had a bit of a resonance in art deco – maybe not in a fluid form, but in a kind of symbolic, geometric form that was a repeat pattern in art deco."

The designer thinks that, after a long period in which more minimalist and Scandinavian styles have dominated interior design, art deco has come back into vogue because people are becoming more daring in their design choices.

"I think people are becoming quite design-savvy with Instagram and Pinterest," Von Stein said.

"And I think potentially, there's a place right now where people are quite happy to have a design point of view. That's an important thing, and immediately that means you're becoming a bit more daring, you want to become a bit more indulgent and exuberant," she added.

"Maybe design has become more important to not just design-lovers like us? People are also more aware of it visually, they're stimulated at all times. So maybe they've become a bit more comfortable to go a bit more out there."

In today's increasingly divided world, Von Stein also thinks the exuberance of art deco can play an important role in design.

"I think it's really nice to have a sense of theatre in spaces. Let's face it, the world is rather chaotic and can be quite a depressing place," she said. "So these moments of theatre are important, and decadence to a certain extent."

While the often-luxurious materials used in art deco may make the style come across as frivolous and unattainable, Von Stein pointed out that its material focus and sense of detail tie in with our contemporary interest in locally sourced pieces made by craftspeople.

She also argues that there are ways of bringing the style into a home without spending a fortune or going all-in on expensive materials.

"It's about bringing in just some pieces, like a few cool lamps, adding character and layers – it doesn't mean that it needs to be an expensive piece," Von Stein said.

"It can be anything from glassware that you bought on eBay to one really great chair, or wallpaper. They're just pieces and characters and layers. That's how you need to look at it."

The photography is by Genevieve Lutkin unless otherwise stated.

Art Deco Centenary

This article is part of Dezeen's Art Deco Centenary series, which explores art deco architecture and design 100 years on from the "arts décoratifs" exposition in Paris that later gave the style its name.

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