In 1950, Edgar Kaufmann Jr. wrote these words while he was the design curator at the Museum of Modern Art. Kaufmann said that what defined modern design was “the planning and making of objects suited to our way of life, our abilities, our ideals, adding “Modern design should blend the expression of utility, materials and process into a visually satisfactory whole.” Personally, I think that is one of the reasons why Art Deco, more than any other 20th Century art styles, matters in the 21st Century. Art Deco is clean, beautiful, functional and serves to ornament the modern world better than almost any other art style that came after it. Art Deco partakes of the artistic traditions of earlier eras and weds them to modern industrial manufacturing techniques. It is this sythesis of modern manufacture and a synthesis of earlier art traditions that makes Art Deco so relevant to the here and now. I predict that Art Deco art and artifacts will only grow more valuable as we journey into the future, but what do you think?