Amy Lau Designs Standout Art Nouveau–Inspired Room for The Salon Art + Design

“Art Nouveau speaks to us now because of its high level of craftsmanship and inspiration from the natural world,” says Lau.

Amy Lau New Nouveau living room
Courtesy Daniel Kukla

The standout exhibit at last year’s Salon Art + Design in New York was interior designer Amy Lau’s living-room environment The New Nouveau, an “atmosphere” of natural forms and curved structures inspired by the Art Nouveau movement. Lau’s ensemblier—French for an interior conceived as a total work of art—outfitted the room with a vast range of media: ceramics, glass, metal, textiles, and wood by designers including early-20th-century notables such as Émile Gallé and Louis Comfort Tiffany; designers of the 1960s and ’70s like Albert Paley and Michael Coffey; and contemporary practitioners such as David Wiseman, Mark Brazier-Jones, Nancy Lorenz, and Mary Wallis, whose commissioned pieces are influenced by this style. As if that weren’t enough, sprinkled throughout the space were mineral specimens, an immense 307-carat Brazilian crystal opal, and an 18-karat-gold necklace by Roberto Burle Marx. “Art Nouveau speaks to us now because of its high level of craftsmanship and inspiration from the natural world,” says Lau, who is already working on next year’s edition. “It’s so bespoke, rare, and just so beautifully handcrafted.”

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