French interior designer Jean-Michel Frank championed minimal interiors through the mixing of styles and cultures. According to Frank, “the noble frames that came to us from the past can receive today’s creations.” The severity of modern design was lessened by Frank’s all-encompassing approach that gladly mixed styles, cultures, and materials to create multi-dimensional surfaces and compositions. Frank’s playful combination of spare and rectilinear details, inspired by the architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, and sumptuous materials such as shagreen, mica, and straw marquetry helped soften the oftentimes austere interiors pioneered during the period in France and abroad.