Art Deco Furniture Designs in Republican Era: Selahattin Refik Sırmalı and the Study Room of Atatürk

Abstract

This study presents the works of Selahattin Refik who played an active role in the Republican Era Architecture through his modern practices in interior architecture and furniture design. Practicing the most recent and popular art of his time, Art Deco, Refik also received the appreciation of Atatürk, and was influential in the first twenty years of the Republic. This study focuses on his interior and furniture designs for the ‘Study Room’ designed for Ataturk at the ‘Ataturk Museum House which is the first Official Residence of the President of the Republic of Turkey. Pioneering original Art Deco practices of our country, the ‘Study Room’ has been an implementation that illustrates not only the originality and competency of Selahattin Refik in practicing the modern art of the era but also the reflection of the modern identity of the Republic on interior designs.

Keywords

• Selahattin Refik
• Study room of Atatürk
• Interior architecture
• Decoration
• Furniture design
• Presidential Atatürk Museum House
• Art Deco
• Atatürk