Not everyone can pull off wearing brass aviator goggles. But as steampunk crosses from a niche subculture into the mainstream, the retro-futuristic aesthetic is earning mass appeal as interior decor.
Restoration Hardware’s 690-page tome of a fall catalog is full of Edison-style filament light bulbs and mechanical gears that evoke the old world-meets-future-world style that’s been on trend in recent years. Where once steampunk aficionados had to trawl specialty stores or eBay or construct their own old-looking accouterment, now steampunkian wares mingle with traditional furnishings at Anthropologie or Jayson Home.
“Picture tufted leather Chesterfield sofas with vintage industrial-inspired lighting and other fixtures,” said Newell Turner, editor of House Beautiful, the magazine that fingered steampunk as a coming home design trend in 2010.
Many mainstream retailers don’t call their pieces steampunk — Restoration Hardware never mentions the word, opting instead for “19th century” and “industrial” — but they capture the spirit. Unlike the stark, straightforward functionality of many industrial designs, steampunk’s look is more artistic, combining mechanical parts with Victorian-era embellishments and futuristic whimsy.
“It’s a little more worked (than other industrial styles), a little more ornamented, but the ornament is more utility; you see more knobs, a little more detailing,” said Devin Kirk, vice president of merchandising at Jayson Home.
Kirk said the popularity of steampunk in interior design “hit with a bang” a couple of years ago and has been growing steadily. The use of simple materials in a simple palette, but presented in unique shapes and sillhouettes, allows people to incorporate steampunklike elements into their existing decor, he said.
The term “steampunk” was coined in the late 1980s to describe a subgenre of science fiction literature that reimagines a technologically advanced 19th-century world, and over the years it has found expression in fashion, music and art. Hallmarks of the movement include aviator goggles, clock parts, corsets, top hats, steam-powered airships, computers made from wood and brass, Nikola Tesla. The look is old-fashioned and brooding, but with a spirit of romance and adventure.
“To me, it’s something that expresses or invokes that feeling of the 19th century,” said Kevin Steil, founder of the steampunk blog Airship Ambassador (airshipambassador.com). “And there’s some aspect of high technology built from low materials.”
Steil, a software designer who lives in the steampunk hotbed of Seattle, said he fell in love with the aesthetic as a child when he read Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” an iconic steampunk example of technology ahead of its time. The movement began growing in earnest about five years ago, Steil said, as fans connected with the help of the Internet and the launch of steampunk conventions. People started making things they envisioned from the stories. Designers have crafted high-end steampunk wares, such as beautiful lighting fixtures from Art Donovan and Frank Buchwald.
The spread of steampunk to mainstream interior design is much more recent, said Steil, whose own living room is lined with a collection of steampunk prints from Chinese artist James Ng. Steil applauds that the look is extending its reach and advocates using steampunk decor as conversation pieces.
“On one hand, I know there are some people in the community who think mainstreaming will destroy steampunk, but I think it’s a good thing that it’s not just a little niche area,” Steil said. “It makes people think a little bit more about the objects they want in their space and how they want to express themselves in their space and communicate who they are. There is a classic look to a lot of these items, but also a lot of creativity in how people might pull together these items to create a look that’s their own.”
Unless you’re seriously into steampunk — “Have you been to Burning Man? If the answer is no, you’re probably not,” House Beautiful’s Turner said — the best way to bring the aesthetic into your home is sparingly.
Lighting is an easy entry point.
“One lamp or hanging fixture or a couple of sconces and you’ve got a nice touch,” Turner said. “Or picture a little visual tension, like a contrast between something luxurious and something vintage industrial.”
Mixing the metal and dark finishes of steampunk with more natural materials, such as linen fabrics and raw woods, also helps soften the look, Kirk said.
Steampunk’s signature colors — typically black or “the darkest indigo accented with deep jewel tones,” Turner said — also have been finding their way into mainstream designs.
“Black trim, doors and mantels with off-white walls is also a very hot look that I would say comes out of steampunk style,” Turner said.
The point is that a little goes a long way.
“I think when you use too much it can get a little scary, like ‘American Horror Story,'” Kirk said.
