Examples of Jugendstil, the German branch of the Art Nouveau movement, are found allover my neighborhood, and Munich. All one has to do is look up and there are amazing decorations on many buildings. There’s a beautiful building in Ainmiller Strasse, where people like Rainier Maria Rilke, Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinskuy lived, with large friezes of Adam and Eve done in this style and they literally take your breath away with their beauty. I love this style and always have. Guimard’s amazing Metropolitan subway stops in Paris. William Morris’ designs of all sorts, the work of Charles Rennie Macintosh and everything in Liberty of London have always attracted me. If you look closely, these people and design houses influenced so many people in America including Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan. Seeing these original pieces in their unvarnished condition is an astonishing experience for me, an unabashed Art Nouveau/Arts and Crafts lover. I know it’s somewhat out of style to like this stuff as much as I do, but really one cannot help but fall in love with such beautiful pieces of art.

If you want a golden rule that will fit everything, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.
- William Morris