French Style Furniture

French Style furniture popular for it's functionality and beauty all around the globe. This style represented glamour and luxury as well as was the most renowned commercial style in Britain, from the year of about 1835 to 1880. As far as the medieval period, the style of Gothic architecture that originated in France influenced the craftsmen of furniture who made solid oak pieces that were painted or decorated heavily with hand carvings. The Gothic cathedral ornamentation inspired the motifs of the furniture, especially the linen fold, the trefoil or the pointed arch.The Gothic-period behind French furniture was highly functional and cosier furniture that was earlier found just in the ecclesiastical environment took a step in the secular world in the 14th century. The Gothic style leads to the Renaissance by 1500 and the Italian influence turned to be prominent. Under the first Renaissance king of France, Francis I, the furniture was significantly inspired by Italy. The craftsmen in France under Henry II formed their own schools and the Italian models were modified with grace and characteristic of French taste. It resulted in the first true, Henry II style, the original style of French Renaissance. This is even the first in the long series of French style furniture named after the kings ruling the country.Well, the French Renaissance even developed the beginnings of the country style furniture which popular yet today. This blends the ‘country’ substances of rural life with fancy design work of urban life. After the style of the Louis XIII Renaissance, it comes the Baroque era that introduced a royal, majestic décor style. Dignity, bold effects, grandeur, lavish and round lines with balanced and symmetrical ornamental works marked the French furniture. Heavy upholstered was functional as well as a decorative addition to the style of that time. However, just as the Baroque style, Rococo era (1720 – 1755) furniture is popular for its splendid decorations and curvaceous outlines. This furniture is lighter and even avoids symmetry. It made an introduction to more delicate items and the craftsmen frequently used to hid secret compartments within their work. The Louis XV style properly began in about 1750 that displayed a high level of technical curves. However, the Louis XVI furniture under the influence of Marie Antoinette displayed a return to simple lines and more intricate and restrained ornament with exquisite painting and marquetry.The French Revolution came in 1789 and the arts for a time weakened. The Directoire style on the basis of Pompeian and Roman elements was an attempted come back to the antiquity models. However, the style was a type of artificial as it didn’t result from the natural transition. The period of the Empire was the end of the historic French furniture styles. The Empire style was based greatly on the Imperial Roman. They were formal, cold as well as heavy. These pieces weren’t cosily splendid as the ones of Louis XIV era. Makers of furniture broke away from the flowing, rounded silhouettes of the earlier French styles and started to make pieces in simple forms with sharp edges and straight lines. However, the best modern French furniture is Art Deco that made its debut in 1920’s. The main features were fluidity and symmetry. This employed various forms of the Art Nouveau, its forerunner.La Maison Chic adores the history behind what today has established our company in to one of the top companies specialising in French style furniture which has true history behind every product we design carefully designing our products in keeping with their heritage history. Browse our beautifully crafted french style furniture below.