Why is Art Deco so expensive?

Art Deco is expensive because the style leans on costly materials and slow, exacting craftsmanship, and its polished surfaces leave nowhere to hide a shortcut. A genuine Deco piece often carries exotic veneers like Macassar ebony or amboyna, hand-applied lacquer built up in many coats and rubbed between each, and marquetry or metal inlay that has to be cut and fitted by hand. Book-matching a veneer into a clean sunburst is skilled, wasteful work, and a large unbroken lacquered surface shows every ripple, so the finishing alone can take days. Antique Deco adds scarcity and provenance on top, which is why signed pieces climb into the tens of thousands. A high-gloss surface is the most unforgiving finish in furniture, so you are paying for the flaws you cannot see. Cheap Deco skips the veneer and the hand-finishing, and it shows within arm's reach.

AURA's answer is to focus that spend where it shows. The art deco furniture we carry puts the budget into silhouette and finish quality, the two things your eye actually reads across a room.