Main trends in interior design in 2018
What will our home look like in 2018? What are the main interior design trends and should we follow them? Looking at the latest global furniture and decoration shows and the homes featured in the best magazines, we can safely accept one and reject the other.
The concept of interior design trends is as appealing as it is complex, especially in the context of how to furnish and decorate your home. In a time of rapidly passing fashion trends, colours, shapes and styles are changing at a dizzying speed, aided by the fast pace of manufacturing and online shopping. To everyone's relief, however, in interior design trends move much more slowly. When we're buying furniture or deciding which colour to use, our decisions are usually long considered - no one changes their sofa or kitchen every season. We choose and arrange our home according to our personal lifestyle, our idea of comfort, our dream of a place that will make our lives better. This doesn't mean that trends have no place in interiors - and right now, at the beginning of the year, is the time to look with curiosity at the elements that will bring a sense of actuality to the environment that surrounds us. At first glance, strange and contradictory, but in fact the crisis is creating some of the most prominent trends in contemporary design - the growing role of handmade, sustainability, recycling, the drive to produce products that last over time in terms of quality and aesthetics.
The big trend - New Neutrals and Ultra Violet
Warm and deep colours inspired by precious stones - turquoise, amber, ruby; velvet, suede and leather were the defining colours of last season. At the start of 2018, the pendulum of trends has swung with certainty towards the so-called New Neutrals - pale pinks, lavenders, light blues and pastel green shades. Pantone Colors (https://www.pantone.com), the institution that has the final say in determining the colour trend of the year, has named Ultra Violet as the leading trend of 2018 - wonderful company for velvet, as well as the gold and brass surfaces that continue to dominate the materials. According to the experts, violet shades are associated with the richness of the imagination, with unlocking creativity, with mysticism and a sense of luxury in the environment that surrounds us. They combine beautifully with the nostalgic, romantic presence of pastel colours. A feeling of delicacy, comfort and softness has never been easier to achieve - this is a trend for all those who want their home to radiate security and peace for the senses.
The new comfort - refined casualness
After the dizzying success of the Scandinavian concept of happiness - hygge - characterised by simplicity, asceticism and functionality, interiors are taking a big step towards warm comfort - understood as the warm layers of clothes we put on all winter. Layering - literally, of fabrics, textures soft and pleasing to the touch, draperies, throws and pillows, even tassels and fringe - anything that creates comfort is welcome and allowed. Comfort has never been more cosmopolitan, attractive and unpretentious.
Farewell, strict geometry!
Sofas and chairs are not so geometric anymore - the shapes are soft and comfortable, raised on legs, in the style of the 50s and 60s, with rounded silhouettes. Their sizes are smaller, as are the pieces of furniture that surround them - small tables, side tables, cushions and stools. The purity of linear design with graphic elements, so beloved of architects, is tempered by leather upholstery, handmade luxury details, case furniture often upholstered in fabric. It's okay for a home to look messy and understated - as long as we keep in mind that this "unkempt" design looks good when it's the result of good taste (or the work of a good interior designer).
Wabi Sabi
All those who love the beauty of natural materials, the lived-in atmosphere, the feeling of timelessness, can finally breathe a sigh of relief - Wabi Sabiisthe trend that will make old pottery, cracked wooden surfaces, textiles made of crumpled linen and coarse wool, more relevant than ever. Wabi Sabi is more than just a trend - it's an overall concept of life that comes from Japan and means finding beauty in imperfect things. Interior design principles here include natural materials, neutral colours, rough surfaces. We choose objects that bear the traces of time, authenticity, simplicity and minimalism. Caution - this means that we have to get rid of everything superfluous. Trend is much more than decoration - it is a way of life that means being happy with little things, but ones that connect us to nature and our past. The colour palette of the wabi sabi is limited to shades of white, grey and the natural colours of wood, stone, ceramics.
Contrary to trends towards luxury and decorativeness, the Eastern trend is actually an expression of a desire to live with fewer but essential things.
Carpets - not only on the floor
Anything that covers the floor, whether textile or ceramic, has long had the status of an art object - from the rugs of designer Jan Kath(https://jan-kath.de), who uses high-resolution satellite images and turns them into paintings of wool and silk with perfect detail, to those of Moooi (www.moooi.com), whose abstract pattern, shape and texture shatter the rectangular notion of a rug. In 2018, interiors are celebrating the beauty of carpet in unconventional and spectacular ways, hanging them on walls like paintings. Whatever style your favourite rug is, from traditional oriental motifs to modern geometric shapes or artistic solutions, hung on the wall it will add a rich sense of warmth and texture to the interior (not forgetting the practical benefit - it absorbs sounds and provides an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity).
The interior as an experience
The growing sense of alienation that constant interaction with digital devices brings creates a clear desire to surround ourselves with materials that can be felt and sensed, and with objects that we understand how they work. Mid-century designer Pierre Paulin, whose archives were recently revived by Luis Vuitton, expressed this timeless trend, honesty, quite clearly: "An armchair is first and foremost and only for sitting." High-tech futuristic design, artificial fibers, gold taps are not trending today. Instead, anyone who wants to show that they live well surrounds themselves with simple, well-made, aesthetically timeless furniture, treats their senses to natural fabrics such as leather and wood, sits on truly original chairs, steps on handmade rugs, enjoys their balcony, garden or yard, home-cooked food and - in general - adventures of the senses. In the play of trends, this longing materialises in the huge kitchen islands and dining tables made of wood, which serve for cooking, for eating, for gathering with friends, for work, for play. And more - in kitchens with open shelves (like Patricia Urquiola's Salinas for Boffi www.boffi.com), modules in colour, graphic cement floor tiles, copper lamps and lanterns in smoked glass - everything that brings respect to craftsmanship, handmade and that brings us back to the luxury of touch.
The eternal trend - personality
How can personality be achieved in interiors when design is mass produced? When renowned designer Philippe Starck(www.starck.com) declares the end of trends, he is actually giving expression to the most important of them all - the one that will define the face of the industry and client demands in the years to come - design personalisation. The ability for people to get "personal design" at an affordable price. 3D Print technologies are working hard in this direction. Limited editions of furniture remain for collectors as it always has been. As for interiors, personalizing the space we live in is one of the most enduring trends. Hidden in the walls, invisible cabinets are giving way to shelves, bookshelves and low cabinet furniture in the spirit of the 50s and 60s. Favourite objects, books, collections, artworks, even clothes or jewellery are on display - one of the ways the home can be spiritualized and become a truly personal space. The trend requires quite an effort indeed - to get rid of things we don't need, to discipline the world of possessions around us and to treat with love those that express us best. Because only in this way can the signals that design sends from fairs, showrooms and magazines be properly understood.