This past weekend, the Financial Times (which, inexplicably, I love) ran an article summarizing what it sees as the major design trends for 2008. (To clarify, a trend is movement in a certain direction – different from a flash-in-the-pan fad. It’s a subtle but important distinction.) As my job is to translate trends into practical applications for my clients, here are my thoughts.
Trend: oversized furniture, or “playful over-scaling”
Translation: Mirrors, art, and accessories as opposed to furniture
For this to work, one must be bold. I loathe chairs-and-a-half precisely because they’re not bold: they usually look out of scale and try to be all things to all people. (I’m a sofa! I’m a chair! One sitter lonely, two sitters cramped!) But I like this trend, because, as the article points out, the U.S. unwittingly started it with McMansionization. If there’s one thing we Americans should do more of, it’s laugh at ourselves, so let’s go with it.
Oversized mirrors, art, and accessories such as vases or lamps have great potential for playing with scale. They’re less of an investment than furniture and easier to remove later. I’d say Artemide’s Tolomeo Mega Floor Lamp qualifies for overscale, and it’s been available for years (shown here through FormPlusFunction.com, which I use often for modern light fixtures):
Trend: open plan bedroom-bathroom suites, other extreme open plans
Translation: door-free walk-in showers, continued use of the “great room”
I’ll follow my clients’ lead on this one. I would be delighted to design an open plan bed-bath suite (increased focus on tactile materials, FT says – fun!). But I’m not going to push it, because I think that as rugged individualists, we Americans value our privacy. If you already have a combined kitchen-dining-family room, you have my permission to feel cutting edge…just remember to say “open plan,” not “great room.”
(photo from Metropolitan Home through www.thekitchendesigner.org)
Trend: “Palm Beach Look:” flashes of vibrant colors, metallic finishes, patent leather, 60s and 70s furniture
Translation: Focus on the color (naturally)
Those who already live in modern architecture can go whole hog on this trend. For those with more traditional taste and architecture, I’ll be recommending judicious use of the accent wall (see my note of caution in bossy blog’s 11.27.07 entry) and accessories, such as throw pillows and lamps.
The article uses the phrase “zingier, braver tones” to communicate the trend toward “citrus fruits, flame red, purple….even the shockingly bright acid lime green used by architect Amanda Levete…” Sigh. I’m in heaven. First person to send me a t-shirt that says “zingier, braver tones” will win a slightly used Benjamin Moore fan deck.
Trend: “Intelligent” (engineered) materials, new uses of natural surface finishes
Translation: continued use of natural materials, particularly in countertops and tile
The “intelligent materials” mentioned in the article are super cool, but, as the article fairly points out, many are still in development and are, therefore, prohibitively expensive.
My clients show no sign of tiring of glass tiles and natural stone in baths and kitchens. I keep waiting for the 1 x 1 glass mosaic tiles to go out of fashion, but like stainless steel appliances, they may be here to stay. I am encouraging clients to consider larger glass tiles, though. One client recently chose red and purple glass tiles by Vitrium (Oceana line) for her kitchen backsplash, and it looks fantastic.
