When the curators of the Art Deco exhibition held art Albury Art Gallery recently approached Sonia Collard of Habadash about loaning some of her huge collection of period buttons, they were overwhelmed by their beauty and variety.

Art Deco was an instant hit and its popularity was global. No previous art movement had been so multicultural and multinational. Because of inexpensive mass-production techniques, objects designed in the new style were available to every economic class. Art Deco was the first art movement in history to be truly international and democratic right from its birth.

Clothing fashions reflected the style, of course, and buttons were ideal little canvasses for experiments in Art Deco design. Glass manufacturers in central and eastern Europe embraced Art Deco wholeheartedly, and countless millions of glass buttons in a variety of Art Deco designs could soon be found in habadashers everywhere.

Celluloid was another material utilized in the production of Art Deco buttons. The combination of black and white became popular during the era, and button collectors can find a seemingly endless variety of black and white celluloid buttons. Other Art Deco celluloid buttons include tight tops (lithographed sheet celluloid wrapped tightly around a metal form) and one-piece pictorial buttons made of sheet celluloid.

Many beautiful buttons made of Bakelite and its more colorful cousin Catalin were produced during the "Deco" era. Embellished with rhinestones or aluminum or glass jewels, many of these buttons were cheaply fabulous and fabulously cheap echoes of luxury designs produced by Cartier and other high-end firms.

Union Studio is delighted to present buttons from Sonia Collard’s stunning collection in the exhibition “The Art in Buttons”. The exhibition also includes a playful display of souvenir scarves and pennants. The designs of these scarves commemorate places and times like the 1939 World Fair and the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. They are often bold, colourful and make beautiful framed curios.