Le Décor d’Aujourd’hui

From 1933–1939 and 1944–1957, Michel Dufet was managing editor of the bi-monthly Le Décor d’Aujourd’hui. In the role of art critic and designer for this interior design magazine, he presented the latest fashions from exhibitions, along with his own creations. 
An advocate for rationalism, Dufet was scathing about “antiquarians” – designers who cultivated elitism by their style and their clientèle. Dufet’s writings and works developed the ideals of 1936: the integration of leisure time into interior design (through the proliferation of leisure-related furniture such as record players and radiograms), the affordability of beautiful objects through mass production, and the end of back-breaking domestic work thanks to the boom in household appliances.
The tone of Décor d’Aujourd’hui was resolutely modern, highlighting the works of designers such as Alvar Aalto, Charlotte Perriand and Robert Mallet-Stevens and featuring Le Corbusier, Auguste Perret, Francis Jourdain and other creators and researchers of his time. This magazine also stands as an important witness to the evolution of interior design in 1930s to 1950s France, particularly when the country was being rebuilt after the Second World War.
The format of the magazine itself was original: a quarter of the front cover could be used as a subscription coupon. Once cut out, it revealed a full-colour illustration of a modern interior. Each issue included a wallpaper sample alongside a colour sketch showing an example of its use. In general, particular care was taken over the quality of the illustrations in the Décor d’Aujourd’hui. These included technical drawings by leading architects, as well as photo shoots from the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs.

Jason Vertray