Art Deco

The Art Deco era of leadlight design played a significant part in New Zealand architecture in the 1920s, 1930s and through into the early 1940s. Not only did the style change dramatically during this period - from the lovely arches and curves of the Art Nouveau era - but the method of production altered significantly too, and this had the unforeseen effect of sending the leadlight industry in New Zealand into serious decline until the late 1970s when the art was revived by glass artisans in America and Europe.

When comparing a house built during the 1920s through to the early 1940s, for example a Californian Bungalow or an early New Zealand Spanish delight built in stucco with early colonial homes from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, and assuming that the houses in question havn't been 'modernised in the 60s or 70s, you will quickly notice the transition from double-hung sash-windows to casements with leadlight fanlights above. 

These fanlights were often designed as a series and the design moved from simple rosebuds with a touch of colour and perhaps a ribbon or two, to very sharp, crisp, geometrical panels where colour was replaced with strongly textured glass in either clear obscure or softly tinted glass.  Such simple yet striking designs were usually of a standard size and this led to the advent of mass production in the leadlight industry, making leadlight windows affordable for the average houseowner. 

Once leadlights were perceived to be affordable by the masses, they no longer appealed to the elitist wealthy.  With the advent of the Second World War, and subsequent building boom after the war where materials were in short supply, a new era of soul-less window architecture emerged, leaving a shortage of glass artists and leadlight expertise.

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