'Sleek lines, smooth, bright colours': Art deco resurfaces at Lougheed House exhibit

It was an era that brought us the Empire State Building, jazz and new technology, butthe 1920s and '30s also introduced a new design esthetic called art deco.

Calgary's Lougheed House has a new exhibit that focuses on domestic objects from thatera. It featuresmore than 40 items from vacuumsto ashtrays from private collections in the Calgary area.

"When you see art deco buildings," curator Caroline Loewentold the Homestretch,"you see really new technologies being involved, new materials, sleek lines, smooth, bright colours. It felt very modern."

She says the design movement started in about 1925 in Paris, and stood out in strong contrast to the Great Depression ofthe '30s.

"It was very ...utopic," she said.

"It thought that technology would save us and bring us out of the Great Depression and that we could all have shiny new things in our houses."

The Future Looked Bright: Art Deco in Everyday Life runs at Calgary'sLougheedHouse until April 29.

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With files from the Homestretch