ONE OF THE TOWNS THAT I WAS EXTREMELY EXCITED TO VISIT LONG BEFORE WE ARRIVED IN NEW ZEALAND IS NAPIER. ON FEB. 3, 1931 NAPIER WAS STRUCK BY AN EARTHQUAKE REGISTERING 7.8 ON THE RICHTER SCALE. (THIS WAS THE LARGEST EARTHQUAKE EVER IN NEW ZEALAND.) VERY FEW BUILDINGS SURVIVED THE QUAKE AND SUBSEQUENT FIRES. OVER 100 PEOPLE WERE KILLED. IN A RUSH TO REBUILD, ARCHITECTURAL STUDENTS WERE CALLED IN FROM AUCKLAND. BECAUSE ART DECO WAS IN ITS HEIGHT AT THIS TIME, NAPIER WENT MAD FOR THE BOLD, GEOMETRIC STYLE. NAPIER IS NOW CONSIDERED ONE OF THE FINEST CONCENTRATED COLLECTIONS OF ART DECO.
THE ART DECO PERIOD RAN FROM 1925-1939. "STYLE MODERNE" WAS THE ORIGINAL NAME, BUT FOLLOWING THE EXPOSITION OF 1925 PEOPLE BEGAN USING THE TERM "ART DECO". ART DECO IS A PURELY DECORATIVE STYLE THAT INFLUENCED ARCHITECTURE, INTERIOR DESIGN, ART, FILM AND FASHION. IT IS BASED ON MATHEMATICAL AND GEOMETRIC SHAPES WITH INFLUENCE FROM AFRICA, EGYPT, MEXICO AND THE MACHINE AGE. STEAM LINERS AND SKYSCRAPERS WERE IN THE BEGINNINGS OF THEIR FORMATION AT THIS TIME. BOLD STEPS AND SWEEPING CURVES GIVE A DRAMATIC LINE TO THE OVERALL STYLE WITH THE SUNBURST MOTIF EPITOMISING THE ERA. STAINLESS STEEL, INLAID WOOD, AND ZEBRA SKINS ALL GAVE DRAMATIC CONTRAST IN TEXTURE AND COLOR. ART DECO WAS AN OPULENT STYLE IN REACTION TO THE AUSTERITY OF WORLD WAR I. IT WAS CUT SHORT DUE TO WORLD WAR II BUT OPENED THE DOOR FOR MODERNISM.
WALKING DOWN THE STREETS OF NAPIER ART DECO IS AROUND ME. I FEEL LIKE I HAVE STEPPED BACK TO A TIME WHERE CARS WERE NEW ON THE SCENE. THE BUILDINGS, LAMPPOSTS, SEWER COVERS, TOWN FOUNTAIN AND OTHER LITTLE DETAILS ALL SPEAK OF A TIME OF RENEWAL FOLLOWING DISASTER FOR ONE TOWN.
NO WORRIES - KRIS
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