The Flare Journal

Design styles explained

From Art Nouveau to mid-century modern: where each style came from, its signature motifs and how to use it at home.

10 articles to read

Flare illustration of Rococo scrolls, shells and leaves in an asymmetric arrangement

Styles4 min read

Rococo in Britain: shells, scrolls and asymmetry

Rococo is the lightest, most playful of the historic styles: shells, scrolls and curves that refuse to match. How it reached Britain, how to spot it, and where...

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
Flare illustration of heavy rounded plaster forms, an arched niche and a bowl wall light

Styles3 min read

Soft brutalism: raw texture, rounded forms and calm rooms

Soft brutalism keeps Brutalism's honesty about materials but rounds off its edges. What the look is, where it comes from, and how to use plaster, limewash and light...

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
Flare illustration contrasting an Art Deco fan with Art Nouveau whiplash stems

Styles4 min read

Art Deco vs Art Nouveau: how to tell them apart

Art Nouveau grows; Art Deco is engineered. The dates, lines, motifs and materials that separate the two styles, with a checklist you can use on any building.

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
Flare illustration of a low bench, vase with branch, stones and a paper lamp

Styles3 min read

Japandi: where Japanese and Scandinavian design meet

Japandi blends Japanese restraint with Scandinavian warmth. The ideas behind it, the materials and colours to use, and why textured plaster suits it so well.

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
Flare illustration of an Art Deco sunburst fan and stepped skyline

Styles2 min read

What is Art Deco? The style, its motifs and how to bring it home

Sunbursts, fans and stepped lines: where Art Deco came from, the motifs that define it, and how to use it at home without turning a room into a...

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
Flare illustration of Art Nouveau lilies with whiplash stems under a curving arch

Styles2 min read

Art Nouveau: whiplash curves, nature and the designers behind the style

Around 1890, designers across Europe turned their backs on copying the past and looked to nature instead. This is the story of Art Nouveau.

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
Flare illustration of a plaster bust of Charles Rennie Mackintosh with Glasgow roses

Architects & designers1 min read

Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow Style

Tall lines, stylised roses and a bold balance of light and dark: the Scottish architect who gave Art Nouveau a voice of its own.

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
Flare illustration of Bauhaus circle, square and triangle with a glass dome lamp

Styles1 min read

The Bauhaus and modern minimalism: why less became more

A design school that ran for just fourteen years but changed how the world builds, furnishes and lights a room.

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
Flare illustration of a mid-century atomic starburst with orbits and boomerang shapes

Styles1 min read

Mid-century modern: atomic shapes, starbursts and the optimism of the 1950s

Starbursts, atomic shapes and warm timber: how post-war optimism produced one of the most collected design styles of all.

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker
Flare illustration of a scallop shell rising from the waves

Styles1 min read

The scallop shell in design: from Botticelli to Hollywood Regency

Few shapes have travelled as far as the scallop shell. A short history of a motif that has meant love, pilgrimage and glamour.

By Joseph van LockeFounder, designer and maker

Bring a chapter of design history home.

Every piece is cast by hand to order in Shrewsbury.

Shop the collections