Heritage: Historical Inspirations
Heritage is HART’s section dedicated to Art and Design History, the great decorative movements, visual cultures, and stylistic evolutions that continue to inform contemporary aesthetics. Here, we trace how taste, craft, politics, and innovation have left their imprint on the spaces we live in and the objects we cherish.
This space is for design lovers and collectors, but also for students, teachers, editors, and brands looking to build meaning through form. Whether you’re referencing a historic style or reinterpreting its codes — context matters. HART offers that context with beauty, depth and clarity.
A cross-century journey through style
We explore four major design periods, each hosting in-depth articles, analysis, inspiration and archival stories:
- 17th century — Theatrical baroque, classical proportions, and royal craft.
- 18th century — Rococo, neoclassicism, and the golden age of European decorative arts.
- 19th century — Eclecticism, Empire, Arts & Crafts, and the first industrial aesthetics.
- 20th century — Bauhaus, modernism, Art Deco, Memphis, radical postmodern gestures.
Each era has its icons, philosophies, contradictions. We explore them with rigor and emotion — so that heritage becomes a living source of creativity.
For editors, institutions, educators & students
Are you developing a heritage-inspired collection? Teaching design history? Curating a cultural project or exhibition? Looking to publish or collaborate around historic styles?
📩 Let’s connect:
collab@hartdesignselection.com
Last posts in “Heritage”
Good Design Movement: The quest for democratic design
New York, 1950. The Museum of Modern Art inaugurates its first “Good Design” exhibition, organized by Edgar Kaufmann Jr. In the MoMA galleries, Scandinavian furniture, Japanese objects, and American ceramics…
Mid-Century Modern (1945-1965): The American Golden Age
Los Angeles, 1949. In the hills of Pacific Palisades, Charles and Ray Eames complete their Case Study House #8, an architectural manifesto of postwar America. Steel, glass, and vibrant colors…
Art Deco: History, Creators and Legacy of a Universal Style
Paris, 1925. The International Exhibition of Decorative Arts and Modern Industries unveiled a revolutionary aesthetic language to the world. Gone were the vegetal curves of Art Nouveau, replaced by geometric…
Radical Design: Italian Anti-Design (1960–1975)
Florence, 1966. A group of young Italian architects found Archizoom Associati and begin producing provocative projects that question every certainty of modern design. While Good Design champions rationality and the…
Brutalism: An Architecture of Raw Concrete and Social Ambitions
Brutalism, an emblematic architectural movement of the second half of the 20th century, continues to fascinate and divide nearly sixty years after its first stirrings. Characterized by the massive use…
High-Tech Design: when technology becomes an aesthetic language
Between the oil shocks of the 1970s and the technological euphoria of the late 1980s, an aesthetic revolution transformed architecture and design: the High-Tech movement elevated technology into a creative…
Italian Design (1950–1980): a creative age of Dolce Vita
When Milan Reinvents Daily Life Through Industrial Beauty Milan, 1954. In the workshops of Via Durini, Gio Ponti contemplates a Chiavari peasant chair that is one hundred and fifty years…
Traditional Scandinavian Design: The Nordic Art of Living
Traditional Scandinavian design embodies much more than just a decorative style: it reveals a philosophy of life deeply rooted in Nordic culture. Born of the encounter between rigorous climatic constraints,…
Bauhaus: The German School That Shaped Modern Design
1. What is Bauhaus? Bauhaus Definition Born in Germany in the aftermath of World War I, the Bauhaus marked a decisive turning point in the history of decorative arts and…
The Grand History of Design: A Mirror of Civilizations Through the Ages
Did you know that the color mauve was considered revolutionary in 1856? That a simple Colgate toothpaste tube forever changed our relationship to hygiene? That Steve Jobs drew inspiration from…
Ressources
Fondamentaux du Design
Histoire du Design
Des salons baroques aux lignes radicales du XXe siècle, cette frise chronologique met en lumière les révolutions esthétiques qui ont marqué notre environnement quotidien.
Lire l’article « Histoire du Design »Histoire des Styles Classiques
Empire, Régence, Louis XV, Art déco… Ce guide synthétise les codes décoratifs de chaque grand style européen.
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Piétement sabre, patine, passementerie, cannage… Ce lexique donne du sens aux termes techniques et stylistiques souvent employés dans l’univers du design.
Accéder au Glossaire du Design & de la DécorationDictionnaire Hart des Designers Incontournables
Ce dictionnaire répertorie tous les grands noms du design et de la décoration par ordre alphabétique. Découvrez les créateurs qui ont façonné l’art de vivre contemporain.
Accéder au Dictionnaire Hart des Designers
