Cocktail cabinet

With its bulky square-shaped body and heavy legs, these resembling concentric columns, this cocktail cabinet from 1937 is an example of art deco furniture. Its rounded edges and chrome handle mounts further identify it as belonging to the art deco style, a popular design movement in the interwar period and realised through fine art, decorative arts and architecture. A precursor to modernism, the movement was characterised by optimism in man-made materials and mechanised processes. Epitomised by angular lines and geometric patterns, it took its name from the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts), held in Paris in 1925.

The Cocktail cabinet was commissioned by the then Managing Director of General Motors Holden, Sir Laurence Hartnett, for his personal residence, along with a suite of furniture. The furniture was made by the cabinet-makers of General Motors Holden, whose jobs had recently been made redundant following the transition from wooden to metal frames in car manufacture. In an act of goodwill Hartnett gave work to the surplus employees, who approached their designs with a unique art deco style, infused with elements of the automotive industry.

Rebecca Evans, Curator of Decorative Arts & Design