Pyramid selling
4
FINANCIAL TIMES AUGUST 23/AUGUST 24 2014
★
House^Home
Pyramid selling Interiors Ancient Egypt is enjoying an afterlife as a continuing source of inspiration for designers. By Abigail FieldingSmith
W
hen explorer Howard Carter peeled back the shrouds obscuring an artefact that was to influence generations of designers, no one could accuse him of lacking a sense of occasion. As he recounts the moment of discovery on a crackly recording that can now be heard at Oxford’s Ashmolean museum, his plummy voice builds up to a crescendo that still sends a shiver down the spine nearly 100 years on. “As the last (shroud) was rolled back, a gasp of wonderment escaped our lips, so gorgeous was the sight that met our eyes.” It was of course the golden funeral mask of the Egyptian boy-king Tutankhamun, and the 1920s public, hungry for novelty and extravagance after the horrors of the first world war, lapped it up. The New York Times complained that people talked
A 1923 poster for Carter the Great, a US stage magician BrierRemner Collection
of little else – “one cannot escape the name of Tut-Ankh-Amen anywhere.” Evelyn Waugh grumbled that the discovery had been “vulgarised in the popular Press”. For the upper classes, Egyptomania had long predated Carter’s discovery. Excavations, public mummy unwrappings, and the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone followed Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt in 1798. A grandly facaded “Egyptian Hall” was built in
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 gave ancient Egypt a mass appeal it didn’t have before Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, California, the interior of which has an ancient Egyptian theme
Piccadilly, London, in 1812. Yet, the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 gave ancient Egypt a mass appeal it didn’t have before. Vulgar it may have been, but as the Ashmolean’s new exhibition, Discovering Tutankhamun, shows, Tut-mania was nothing if not pervasive. The guardian statues outside the tomb made their way on to cigarette cards and penknives. Huntley & Palmers brought out a biscuit tin with what look like the wings of Horus, the Egyptian falcon god, wrapped around the rim. Carter’s discovery was even the subject of a catchy hit song, “Old King Tut”, whose sleeve work depicts a dissipated-looking monarch leering out from behind a pyramid. “It’s fascinating how it permeated consciousness on all levels of culture and product,” says Liam McNamara, one of the curators of the Ashmolean exhibition. This was partly due to the quality of the find and partly “the
historical period in which the discovery was made – the roaring twenties, a fascination with royalty and celebrity, be it singers and actors through to ancient Egyptian pharaohs.” The Tut memorabilia now looks a little tatty, but a more enduring legacy of the tomb’s discovery is found in the geometric lines, chevron patterns and rectilinear flourishes of the 1920s and 1930s Art Deco movement. Ancient Egypt was not the sole inspiration – Cubism and the aesthetics of the machine age arguably played a greater role – but as the Ashmolean exhibition shows, its influence was
◄ Eichholtz art deco monkey light, £4,750, luxdeco.com
clearly felt. The interplay of curve and line in the feathered wings wrapped around the rectangles of one of Tutankhamun’s outer tombs is echoed in many iconic pieces of design from the period. “Deco lifted elements from everything . . . Chinoiserie, there’s a strong Japanese influence, and Egyptian certainly,” says designer Guy Oliver, who created the modern art deco interior for Claridge’s Fera restaurant. As a sample of 1920s wallpaper decorated with hieroglyphic patterns on display at the Ashmolean shows, the Egyptian influence on Art Deco was sometimes explicit. Winged scarabs adorned many a fashionable brooch, and the lotus flowers gilding the lift doors of New York’s Chrysler building are a typical motif of ancient Egypt. Lotuses, pyramids and geometric wings vie for space on a vintage Art Deco rug currently being sold by antiques dealer Shahbaz Afridi.
Franck Bohbot
The art deco style has enjoyed several revivals since the 1920s. Fabrice Bana, designer and author of the interior design blog A-Gent of Style, says collectors such as Yves St Laurent and Pierre Bergé helped drive a resurgence of interest in the style in the 1970s, and another revival has been in full swing for the past five to 10 years. Egyptomania has to some extent been riding that wave. Cinema Le Louxor, a flamboyant Art Deco building built in Paris in 1921, was reopened last year, and audiences are once again able to watch films in its hieroglyph-painted main theatre. Meanwhile, at an auction of influential designer Tessa Kennedy’s collection at Christie’s in March this year, a pair of gilt-metal wall lights in the shape of winged scarab beetles sold for £3,750. Explicitly pharaonic motifs tend not to feature that much in contemporary
FINANCIAL TIMES AUGUST 23/AUGUST 24 2014
5
★
House^Home ◄ Zoe coffee table, £1,070, luxdeco.com
▼Winged scarab necklace (part of the Ashmolean exhibition)
▼Giltmetal wall light, c.1930, part of Tessa Kennedy collection, one of a pair sold for £3,750 at Christie’s
◄ Wilted Lotus lamp, £1,500, soane. co.uk
David Gowers
►Mara Hoffman floor cushions, £98 each, anthropologie.eu
►Gilt Sunburst mirror, £755, luxdeco.com
▼Mara Hoffman rug, from £398, anthropologie.eu
►Cartier brooch (part of the Ashmolean exhibition) David Gowers
▼Tura Diamond bed, £29,995, luxdeco.com
►Anatomy of Digestion cup and saucer ‘Arteries’, £50, anatomy boutique.com
interiors. In Egypt itself, they are seen as somewhat kitsch, according to Mona Hussein, an award-winning interior designer based in Cairo. She plans to play with the visual vocabulary of ancient Egypt in a forthcoming collection and turn it into something chic, muting their exuberance with neutral colours like beige. “How to turn something kitsch into something fashionable and wanted – this is our challenge,” says Hussein. Interior design company David Collins has given a nod to Egyptomania in its art deco-style vision for the new flagship Jimmy Choo store in Bond Street, central London, where the staircase balustrade will be formed of cartouche-like shapes (a pair of parallel lines capped at the top and bottom
by a semi-circle) inspired by hieroglyphs. “We want something that’s going to look new and exciting in 10 years’ time, not just when it launches, and I think art deco allows us to do that,” says design director Lewis Taylor. “It’s timeless, and can be interpreted as very modern.” The chevron pattern is also proving popular among several contemporary fabric designers, such as Martyn Lawrence Bullard. Boutique textile designer Lisa Fine, whose 2012 fabric Luxor consists of a chevron design copied from an old Egyptian Coptic textile, explains the appeal. “The lines are clean and crisp,” she says. “Its not like 1960s modern – its neither antique ◄ Glazed ceramic from the Carlton Ware ‘Tutankhamun’ range, c.192427 David Gowers
▲Tom Dixon Plane Triangle pendant light, £255, nest.co.uk
▲Sixdrawer parchment and shagreen console, £5,495, louisebradley.co.uk
obviously resonated with the 1920s public. Like the 1920s, the Armana period was one of turmoil, says Liam McNamara, a curator at the Ashmolean. It was also a time of huge wealth and power, in which the ruling elite enjoyed riches flowing in from territories stretching from central Africa to the eastern Mediterranean. “Following the austerity of the first world war, there was somehow a connection with the tomb that connected with a more prosperous period in world history,” adds McNamara.
▲Belt marquetry chest, £1,950, cmeart.co.uk
nor modern – I think it works on all interiors.” Shagreen – a costly fabric made out of stingray hides that is believed to have been used in ancient Egypt and was later an upholstery material popular with 1920s designers such as Jean-Michel Frank – is also experiencing a revival. Designers such as Louise Bradley use it to add a decadent touch to desks and chests of drawers. The “gorgeous” sights seen by Carter in the 1920s endure in contemporary interiors. “I think the longevity of certain motifs used in ancient Egypt is because the decorative language is universal,” says Lulu Lytle, creative director of furniture designer Soane Britain. “Plant forms, animals and insects, geometry – most cultures return to these consistently.”
Why Tutmania ruled the roaring ’20s From actress Clara Bow’s heavy, sweeping eye make up to lemonade advertisements, the influence of the artefacts in Tutankhuman’s tomb shot through the popular culture of the 1920s. A Los Angeles Times headline at the time even sought ancestry for the period’s fashionable bobbed haircut in ancient Egypt, claiming it was “Reincarnated From the Flappers Who Lived When Tombs Were Built”. Something about the Armana Period in which Tutankhamun reigned
▲Fornasetti wall plate, £130, liberty.co.uk
Howard Carter opening the tomb of Tutankhamun Pictorial Press/Alamy
‘Discovering Tutankhamun’ runs at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford until November 2. Adult tickets are £9
FINANCIAL TIMES AUGUST 23/AUGUST 24 2014
★
House^Home
Pyramid selling Interiors Ancient Egypt is enjoying an afterlife as a continuing source of inspiration for designers. By Abigail FieldingSmith
W
hen explorer Howard Carter peeled back the shrouds obscuring an artefact that was to influence generations of designers, no one could accuse him of lacking a sense of occasion. As he recounts the moment of discovery on a crackly recording that can now be heard at Oxford’s Ashmolean museum, his plummy voice builds up to a crescendo that still sends a shiver down the spine nearly 100 years on. “As the last (shroud) was rolled back, a gasp of wonderment escaped our lips, so gorgeous was the sight that met our eyes.” It was of course the golden funeral mask of the Egyptian boy-king Tutankhamun, and the 1920s public, hungry for novelty and extravagance after the horrors of the first world war, lapped it up. The New York Times complained that people talked
A 1923 poster for Carter the Great, a US stage magician BrierRemner Collection
of little else – “one cannot escape the name of Tut-Ankh-Amen anywhere.” Evelyn Waugh grumbled that the discovery had been “vulgarised in the popular Press”. For the upper classes, Egyptomania had long predated Carter’s discovery. Excavations, public mummy unwrappings, and the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone followed Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt in 1798. A grandly facaded “Egyptian Hall” was built in
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 gave ancient Egypt a mass appeal it didn’t have before Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, California, the interior of which has an ancient Egyptian theme
Piccadilly, London, in 1812. Yet, the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 gave ancient Egypt a mass appeal it didn’t have before. Vulgar it may have been, but as the Ashmolean’s new exhibition, Discovering Tutankhamun, shows, Tut-mania was nothing if not pervasive. The guardian statues outside the tomb made their way on to cigarette cards and penknives. Huntley & Palmers brought out a biscuit tin with what look like the wings of Horus, the Egyptian falcon god, wrapped around the rim. Carter’s discovery was even the subject of a catchy hit song, “Old King Tut”, whose sleeve work depicts a dissipated-looking monarch leering out from behind a pyramid. “It’s fascinating how it permeated consciousness on all levels of culture and product,” says Liam McNamara, one of the curators of the Ashmolean exhibition. This was partly due to the quality of the find and partly “the
historical period in which the discovery was made – the roaring twenties, a fascination with royalty and celebrity, be it singers and actors through to ancient Egyptian pharaohs.” The Tut memorabilia now looks a little tatty, but a more enduring legacy of the tomb’s discovery is found in the geometric lines, chevron patterns and rectilinear flourishes of the 1920s and 1930s Art Deco movement. Ancient Egypt was not the sole inspiration – Cubism and the aesthetics of the machine age arguably played a greater role – but as the Ashmolean exhibition shows, its influence was
◄ Eichholtz art deco monkey light, £4,750, luxdeco.com
clearly felt. The interplay of curve and line in the feathered wings wrapped around the rectangles of one of Tutankhamun’s outer tombs is echoed in many iconic pieces of design from the period. “Deco lifted elements from everything . . . Chinoiserie, there’s a strong Japanese influence, and Egyptian certainly,” says designer Guy Oliver, who created the modern art deco interior for Claridge’s Fera restaurant. As a sample of 1920s wallpaper decorated with hieroglyphic patterns on display at the Ashmolean shows, the Egyptian influence on Art Deco was sometimes explicit. Winged scarabs adorned many a fashionable brooch, and the lotus flowers gilding the lift doors of New York’s Chrysler building are a typical motif of ancient Egypt. Lotuses, pyramids and geometric wings vie for space on a vintage Art Deco rug currently being sold by antiques dealer Shahbaz Afridi.
Franck Bohbot
The art deco style has enjoyed several revivals since the 1920s. Fabrice Bana, designer and author of the interior design blog A-Gent of Style, says collectors such as Yves St Laurent and Pierre Bergé helped drive a resurgence of interest in the style in the 1970s, and another revival has been in full swing for the past five to 10 years. Egyptomania has to some extent been riding that wave. Cinema Le Louxor, a flamboyant Art Deco building built in Paris in 1921, was reopened last year, and audiences are once again able to watch films in its hieroglyph-painted main theatre. Meanwhile, at an auction of influential designer Tessa Kennedy’s collection at Christie’s in March this year, a pair of gilt-metal wall lights in the shape of winged scarab beetles sold for £3,750. Explicitly pharaonic motifs tend not to feature that much in contemporary
FINANCIAL TIMES AUGUST 23/AUGUST 24 2014
5
★
House^Home ◄ Zoe coffee table, £1,070, luxdeco.com
▼Winged scarab necklace (part of the Ashmolean exhibition)
▼Giltmetal wall light, c.1930, part of Tessa Kennedy collection, one of a pair sold for £3,750 at Christie’s
◄ Wilted Lotus lamp, £1,500, soane. co.uk
David Gowers
►Mara Hoffman floor cushions, £98 each, anthropologie.eu
►Gilt Sunburst mirror, £755, luxdeco.com
▼Mara Hoffman rug, from £398, anthropologie.eu
►Cartier brooch (part of the Ashmolean exhibition) David Gowers
▼Tura Diamond bed, £29,995, luxdeco.com
►Anatomy of Digestion cup and saucer ‘Arteries’, £50, anatomy boutique.com
interiors. In Egypt itself, they are seen as somewhat kitsch, according to Mona Hussein, an award-winning interior designer based in Cairo. She plans to play with the visual vocabulary of ancient Egypt in a forthcoming collection and turn it into something chic, muting their exuberance with neutral colours like beige. “How to turn something kitsch into something fashionable and wanted – this is our challenge,” says Hussein. Interior design company David Collins has given a nod to Egyptomania in its art deco-style vision for the new flagship Jimmy Choo store in Bond Street, central London, where the staircase balustrade will be formed of cartouche-like shapes (a pair of parallel lines capped at the top and bottom
by a semi-circle) inspired by hieroglyphs. “We want something that’s going to look new and exciting in 10 years’ time, not just when it launches, and I think art deco allows us to do that,” says design director Lewis Taylor. “It’s timeless, and can be interpreted as very modern.” The chevron pattern is also proving popular among several contemporary fabric designers, such as Martyn Lawrence Bullard. Boutique textile designer Lisa Fine, whose 2012 fabric Luxor consists of a chevron design copied from an old Egyptian Coptic textile, explains the appeal. “The lines are clean and crisp,” she says. “Its not like 1960s modern – its neither antique ◄ Glazed ceramic from the Carlton Ware ‘Tutankhamun’ range, c.192427 David Gowers
▲Tom Dixon Plane Triangle pendant light, £255, nest.co.uk
▲Sixdrawer parchment and shagreen console, £5,495, louisebradley.co.uk
obviously resonated with the 1920s public. Like the 1920s, the Armana period was one of turmoil, says Liam McNamara, a curator at the Ashmolean. It was also a time of huge wealth and power, in which the ruling elite enjoyed riches flowing in from territories stretching from central Africa to the eastern Mediterranean. “Following the austerity of the first world war, there was somehow a connection with the tomb that connected with a more prosperous period in world history,” adds McNamara.
▲Belt marquetry chest, £1,950, cmeart.co.uk
nor modern – I think it works on all interiors.” Shagreen – a costly fabric made out of stingray hides that is believed to have been used in ancient Egypt and was later an upholstery material popular with 1920s designers such as Jean-Michel Frank – is also experiencing a revival. Designers such as Louise Bradley use it to add a decadent touch to desks and chests of drawers. The “gorgeous” sights seen by Carter in the 1920s endure in contemporary interiors. “I think the longevity of certain motifs used in ancient Egypt is because the decorative language is universal,” says Lulu Lytle, creative director of furniture designer Soane Britain. “Plant forms, animals and insects, geometry – most cultures return to these consistently.”
Why Tutmania ruled the roaring ’20s From actress Clara Bow’s heavy, sweeping eye make up to lemonade advertisements, the influence of the artefacts in Tutankhuman’s tomb shot through the popular culture of the 1920s. A Los Angeles Times headline at the time even sought ancestry for the period’s fashionable bobbed haircut in ancient Egypt, claiming it was “Reincarnated From the Flappers Who Lived When Tombs Were Built”. Something about the Armana Period in which Tutankhamun reigned
▲Fornasetti wall plate, £130, liberty.co.uk
Howard Carter opening the tomb of Tutankhamun Pictorial Press/Alamy
‘Discovering Tutankhamun’ runs at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford until November 2. Adult tickets are £9
