The extraordinary hiatus of the last 18 months granted us a reprieve from trends as we knew it. Instead, we focused on the bigger issues at stake – the environment, sustainability, community, health. We were also off the hook from having to subscribe to external dictates about the latest, newest must-haves. We had a moment to consider what we liked for ourselves. We realised the power of our homes as the third pillar of wellbeing alongside good food and exercise. And we felt the benefits of surrounding ourselves with things that reflected our authentic likes and lives. It has been the interiors equivalent of speaking our own truth.
ODE TO JOY
Get set for a burst of unbridled frivolity because the dominant flavour on the horizon is fun. A new mood which represents a moment of release after being so tightly wound. A mood we can’t help but be intuitively drawn to. After all, a period of sobriety is generally followed by heady abandonment – consider the Roaring Twenties after WW1. Denial begets indulgence. Cue then the triumphant return of rooms drenched in full-fat colour and mixed with joyous prints on walls, if not ceilings, with enthusiastic abandon. Think Pierre Frey's new Joie de Vivre collection, all upbeat squiggles and Matisse-inspired sunbursts, and British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori’s vibrant new homewares, splendid in eye-popping greens and blues to hot pinks and purples.
AMBIENT WELLBEING
Although some of us are still wearing masks and sanitising hands, we will all inevitably soon revert to less diligent hygiene habits. But the desire to remain safe and well will be stronger than ever. In this way, ambient wellbeing – the concept of embedding health-boosting measures into every space – will boom. Staying healthy will become easier with interiors that actively participate in the wellbeing, if not rehabilitation and healing, of their inhabitants. This goes beyond biophilic design – the direct integration of nature, natural forms and materials into an environment. Ambient wellbeing includes the use of paints such as Graphenstone or Airlite that actively suck pollutants from the atmosphere, the increased use of naturally antibacterial and antimicrobial surfaces like Corian, copper and cork, and silver thread-lined curtains that block electromagnetic radiation.
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