Why Art Deco Still Endures
By Wim Langedijk for HURS
Why Art Deco Still Endures
HUR Reads is our definitive shortlist of the most prominent articles from around the web.
By HURS Team
1
The Artist Who Makes Clay Look Like Navels, Nipples and Vertebrae
At 75, British Kenyan ceramist Magdalene Odundo continues shaping vessels whose curves suggest navels, spines and bodies in motion, a practice honed over five decades. T Magazine visits her Farnham studio to ask 28 questions, from daily routines to inspirations, favorite artworks, and childhood memories. Odundo moves among her drawings, kilns and sunlit windows, reflecting on a lifetime of observing gesture and form, coaxing each vessel into a presence that feels alive and unmistakably her own.
T MAGAZINE
The New Yorker highlights Ruth Asawa’s MoMA retrospective, celebrating an artist for whom making and living were inseparable. From wire sculptures created with her children to public fountains shaped by hundreds of San Francisco schoolkids, Asawa forged an art of connection. Born to Japanese immigrant parents and interned during World War II, she transformed memory, community, and domestic life into work both intimate and expansive, spanning more than 300 pieces that underscore her defiant hospitality.
THE NEW YORKER
Interior designer Alyssa Kapito and accessories designer Amy Zurek draw inspiration from Jean-Michel Frank to create Savette’s first homeware line. Handcrafted leather trays, boxes, and cachepots in black, mink, and cream echo the refined proportions and subtle metallic details of their handbags. The collection balances Parisian elegance with New York practicality, reflecting both designers’ devotion to timeless minimalism, exquisite craftsmanship, and delight in small, perfectly scaled objects for the home.
HOW TO SPEND IT
A century after its debut at Paris’s 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, Art Deco remains irresistible. The Musée des Arts Décoratifs’ new show, 1925–2025. One Hundred Years of Art Deco, celebrates the style’s enduring elegance and contradictions, from Ruhlmann’s ivory-inlaid cabinets to Dunand’s lacquered screens and Cartier’s glittering jewelry. Contemporary reinterpretations, including Orient Express train car interiors by Maxime d’Angeac, show that Deco’s balance of geometry, luxury and optimism continues to inspire designers and collectors worldwide.
INTROSPECTIVE
Marina Abramovic reveals that her 2010 MoMA performance The Artist Is Present was initially dismissed as “totally ridiculous” by curator Klaus Biesenbach, who warned that “nobody has time” to sit across from her. Defying expectations, more than 1,500 visitors faced her in the museum’s atrium over three months. Abramović also discussed her approach to art, physical endurance, and the digital realm, while noting she has never created work with commercial value in mind.