The 1912 interior design exhibition

The Spring Interior Design Exhibition held by the Hungarian Applied Arts Association opened on 28 March 1912 in the Hungarian Royal Museum of Technology. The organisers and curators aimed to display homes suited to everyone, from wealthy people to single men, and the show was arranged accordingly. There was a house of seven spaces that could be opened up to make four or five rooms, a three-room house for a middle-class household, a home for people living in two rooms, and a bachelor’s flat. The lion’s share of the design for the seven-room house went to Miklós Menyhért. He designed the entrance hall, the main dining room, the lounge, and the living room, which also featured a Thék piano and a mosaic of delicate colours by Dezső Kölber and Gida Waltherr. Vass Ferenc designed the study, and András Novák, the bedroom. There were also several designers involved in the three-room house. The entrance hall was designed by Sándor Jeddy, a student at the School of Applied Arts. The kitchen and the study/reception room were created by István Baráth and Károly Schröder. The bedroom was the work of István Szirontai Lhotka. The dining room of the three-room house was designed by Károly Schalamonek. For the two-room house, István Szirontai Lhotka designed the dark living room/dining room; Imre Spiegel (a student at the School of Applied Arts), the white bedroom; Sándor Jeddy, the kitchen; and Imre Madarász, the entry hall furniture. The consistently-pursued aim was to create warmth in the home of people of modest means. The bachelor’s flat was designed by the young architect József Bábolnay. The table and bench in the entrance hall were of particular note. The seating and cupboards of the living room compared will with any other piece of furniture in the exhibition in structure, line and colour. The workmanship of the furniture’s maker, József Kiss, was worthy indeed of the 2,000-crown grand prize. On display in the corridors and glass-roofed hall were many kinds of small artefacts.

Margitay E. 'Lakásművészeti kiállítás' in: Magyar Iparművészet 1912/4. szám, 134-136.

by Jessica Fehérvári