RETRO STYLE BATHROOMS

The retro style may exploit nostalgia, but in a contemporary interpretation, it is never overly serious. The touch stays light and with even a hint of irony. It is the largely Art Deco design of the 1930s that is the most reproduced and re-created. It was developed and interpreted in Shanghai, a city that owes all to the foreign concessions, where China and the West competed and integrated at the same time, but is recognized universally. This style is now becoming almost as popular as when it first evolved. It began in 1920s Paris, though the name Art Deco became common only in the 1960s when it was used to refer to the defining 1925 exhibition on Arts Décoratifs. As an eclectic form of modernism, Art Deco is typified by linear symmetry and, as seen in the exquisitely restored shower room above, crystalline and faceted motifs. Pastel shades, again obvious above, and concealed lighting, exemplified by the geometrically ceilinged bathroom at right, are also essential features in interior design. Above all, Art Deco was conceived as highly decorative and basically ornamental. With the rise in Art Deco’s popularity, bath and washbasin manufacturers are beginning to reproduce these designs.

The shower room in a carefully restored British colonial house in Shanghai features original Art deco stained glass on the door and window, and tiles by British company original Style, handmade to the original designs.

In the main bathroom of the same 1930s house, a reproduction of a painting by the well-known Art deco artist Lolita Lempicka is the centerpiece.

A 1920s marble-topped wooden washstand converted for modern use, with a contemporary drained washbasin.

A restored antique hip bath in an old Shanghai house.