Rococo

Rococo is a design style characterised by brief curves, scrolls, and counter curves, often embellished with imaginative details.

Rococo is a style that originated in Paris in the early 18th century and quickly spread throughout France, Germany, Austria, and beyond, influencing interior design, decorative arts, painting, architecture, and sculpture.

This style is characterised by its emphasis on lightness, elegance, and the exuberant use of curving natural forms in ornamentation. The term 'Rococo' is derived from the French word 'rocaille,' which referred to shell-covered rock work used to adorn artificial grottoes.

Initially, Rococo emerged as a reaction against the weighty design of Louis XIV's Palace of Versailles and the official Baroque art of his reign. Interior designers, painters, and engravers like Pierre Le Pautre, J.-A. Meissonier, Jean Berain, and Nicolas Pineau pioneered a lighter and more intimate style of decoration for the new residences of nobles in Paris.

In Rococo, walls, ceilings, and mouldings featured delicate interlacings of curves and countercurves, primarily based on the shapes of 'C' and 'S,' along with shell forms and other natural shapes. Asymmetrical design prevailed, and light pastels, ivory white, and gold dominated the colour palette. Rococo decorators often employed mirrors to enhance the sense of open space.