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Story: Home décor and furnishings

Mainstream modernism

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Mainstream modernism

The cover of Home Decorator, produced by New Zealand Carpet Distributors, depicts an ideal New Zealand living room of the late 1950s. By this time austere early modernism had been livened up by the introduction of bold patterns and bright colours.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Eph-B-DECOR-1950s-02-cover

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Nancy Swarbrick, Home décor and furnishings – Modernism, 1940s to 1960s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ephemera/40720/mainstream-modernism (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Nancy Swarbrick, published 15 January 2013.