Magnificent chandelier lights up downtown Toronto synogogue

If you want to see wonderful original (or restored) Art Deco chandeliers in Toronto, you could visit the Allstream Centre (formerly the Automotive Building at the CNE), or the CIBC Mellon Building (formerly Canada Permanent Mortgage Corp.) on Bay Street.

Or, perhaps surprisingly, you could pay a visit to the Anshei Minsk Synagogue in Toronto's Kensington Market and see this magnificent chandelier featuring broad terraces and universal fan-shaped Deco motifs interspersed with the Star of David. 

The synagogue, at 10 St. Andrew Street, is open daily with morning minyan at 7:30 am.

Discover the life story of Italian illustrator Paolo Garretto

If you love Deco-style illustration, then you should check out this two-part article by design blogger Steven Heller that tells the life story of Italian illustrator Paolo Garretto (1903-1989). Part one is here, part two is here.

Heller notes that Garretto's "airbrushed caricature epitomized Deco styling. During the Twenties and Thirties he was a master of international advertising design and editorial art, as inventive as A.M. Cassandre, as prolific as Jean Carlu, as witty as Miguel Covarrubias. His geometric conceits captured the romance of the industrial age.

Garretto's graphic approach was based on simplification of primary graphic forms into iconic depictions and loose, but poignant likenesses. Vibrant, airbrushed color was his trademark, and he also experimented with different media to create exciting new form, including experiments with collage and modeling clay which proved fruitful. Without his superb draftsmanship what is now pigeon-holed as Deco styling would surely have been a superficial conceit, but his conceptual work was so acute, and his decorative work was so well crafted that he eschewed these pitfalls.

Shoot-em-up digital Deco

Okay, so you may not be into video games, especially M (Mature) rated ones that are rather violent.

But if you like the Art Deco aesthetic, then you might enjoy looking over the shoulder of someone playing the video game BioShock.

You'll find some elegant geometric-patterned wall panels, and plenty of multiple-plane detailing on columns and trim.

It's just one more example of how the Art Deco style has permeated popular culture!