salon in Berlin for François Habry fitting it out with a row of mirrors
from which electric lights, suspended from strips of metal designed to
look like organic stems of plants, were cantilevered. He also worked in the
cultural arena, designing the interior spaces of the Folkwang museum
in Hagen in 1902 and transforming those of the Weimar museum in
Germany six years later.
When the German architect, Peter Behrens, set out to create a
home for himself and his wife Lilli in Darmstadt in 1901 – 2 he was fol-
lowing in the footsteps of Van de Velde. The unified exterior and interior
which Behrens created was much more luxurious and decorative than
that of his Belgian predecessor, however. The effect of that unity was
achieved through the architect’s repeated use of geometrical motifs on
the windows, the walls, the floors and the surfaces of furniture pieces,
all of which were created especially for the rooms of the house. In his 41
Henry Van de Velde, interior of the office of the Havana Tobacco Company, Brussels,
1898.