Biedermeier

The dominant style, essentially bourgeois in character, in Austria and the German states between 1815 and 1848, in the fields of furniture and interior design, architecture, literature, etc.

‘Biedermeier’ was the pseudonym of a poet who satirised the middle classes, and the name was adopted to symbolise the German bourgeoisie of the early 19th century.

Biedermeier furniture is based on the Empire style although its forms are simplified. Most of it has made by handcraft methods, and much use was made of walnut and light-coloured fruitwoods.