Walk into any radio announcers house or radio station and you are bound to find atleast one antique radio, several are more likely. If you happen to own a radio manufactured by AWA (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia) from the early to mid 1930’s, then you have quite a rare piece in your collection that is a tribute to Art Deco.

According to James Cockington of the Brisbane Times, these are known as the Radiolette series.The reason they are so rare is because most Australians at that time preferred large floor standing radios made of polished wood.The Radiolette series were designed to sit on your mantel and interestingly were not big dollar earners for the company, thus the rarity today.

Some of the most beautiful radios of that period were built in Sydney and as a testament to the popularity of radio during it’s golden age stands the AWA building in Sydney, which incidently is still there today. Sadly her pride has been hurt a bit, for many years she was the tallest building in Sydney, but alas, no longer.

AWA’s Empire State (pictured) was inspired by a popular 1933 American design, the Air King. They borrowed from the best. The Air King was designed by Raymond Loewy, also responsible for the classic Coca-Cola “buddy” bottle.

You can see more examples of these classic radios at the 9th World Congress of Art Deco in Melbourne in Melbourne this week.