Every year is a human season. Historical events, fluctuations in the economy, the evolution of technology and changes in social behaviour: there are many variables that combine to make a year in human history unique and unrepeatable. The design can be a useful indicator of the psychology of a people, and there are research institutes that do just that: try to anticipate the dominant trends and themes that in collective psychology will characterise a calendar year. Let us look together at the trends that in the world ofinterior design will characterise this 2017.
Colours: palette inspired by nature
The most fashionable colour shades will be those inspired by the natural landscape. Green in all its variations, from pale to deep; apricot; violet from lilac to sunset; terracotta; taupe, both light and dark. These colours evoke warm and relaxing feelings, and are clearly inspired by a desire for a simple, essential, pure life. Shades that are also unconsciously linked to the suggestions spread by the increasingly flourishing wellness industry. It is no coincidence that the colour of the year for Pantone is the greenery (code 15-0343) an apple-apple-kiwi green that strikes with its vibrations full of positive energy. Valid suggestions for both the paints to choose when painting a room or a partition wall and the choice of furnishing accessories.
Surfaces: the raw effect wins
The charm of the imperfect recalls, from a material point of view, the same chromatic suggestions we have just talked about. Gilded, shiny, sumptuous finishes are gone; replaced by rough, rough, unfinished; capable of transmitting primordial tactile and visual sensations. Stone takes the place of chrome-plated metal surfaces and shiny epoxy coatings. Glenn Pushelbergmember of theInterior Design Hall of Famehe said: 'the collective mood aroused by recent geopolitical events is one of uncertainty and fear of the future, leading to a renewed desire for warmth, intimacy and a search for a quiet refuge away from the anxieties of the modern world'.
(Example: The Lava collection by Peca)
Lights: functionality gives way to decoration
New material technologies allow for previously unthinkable possibilities. Now light is no longer radiation poured into a room from a point or two, but is something diffuse, dilated, extended. Light sources can be placed anywhere, on the riser of a step, in the junction between two walls, around a pedestal. But they can also be used to draw original shapes on walls and ceilings. The lights in the series Artemide Alphabet of Light (winner of the Interior Design Best of Year award), for example, consist of rectilinear and curved modules that can be arranged to create complex and original decorative structures, conceived by architects and interior designers, or even directly by the homeowner.
Interiors: a desire to dare and amaze
Strong colour blocks. Embossed graphic shapes. Surfaces with bold textures. Interior design has become much more dramatic, with the aim of representing the owners' taste and going down paths of more marked originality and distinction. "Things in 2017 are going to get more and more bizarre," says David Alhadeffowner of the New York design furniture shop (with adjoining art gallery) Future Perfect. "I see a more widespread appreciation of contemporary design around, with architects and homeowners making smart and bold decisions about colours, graphic elements and interior design. Our customers today are increasingly looking for truly unique pieces, to create more distinctive and original living and working spaces. To dare more and more'.
Exteriors: details from past centuries
The most marked trends in theexterior design are twofold: light, light, and craftsmanship-style details, with the use of rough, substantial materials that fill the eye and touch. So, in practice, full-wall windows (perhaps those facing south) and green light for vertical surfaces composed of rough stone laths, visible both from outside and inside. External structures composed of solid wood beams, treated only with stain. A trend also supported by ethical as well as aesthetic reasons. The must are in fact materials entirely derived from sustainable sources and totally recyclable in case of future renovations. From a semiological point of view, there is a clear nostalgia for a world in which objects (and houses) were made to last for generations.
Technology: your home surfs the Internet
Within a few years our whole life will be connected to the Internet, which will become more than the mother of all media, it will become the natural environment (so to speak) in which we will spend most of our day. This trend is already evident today with the Internet of Things (abbreviated to IoT) receiving information and commands from household appliances and home utility management systems.
At CES 2017 the Griffin Technology presented a line of household appliances that via Bluetooth protocol allows users to personalise every aspect of their daily operation. The time at which to prepare coffee, the cooking temperature of eggs, the washing machine programme, the expiry date of food, the shopping list: everything is controlled via apps installed on smartphones that also receive voice commands. It is the concept of the 'personal digital assistant' that is making its way not only in the automotive sector, but also in the domestic sphere. In a few years, we will wake up in the morning with our breakfast steaming hot, our favourite magazine downloaded onto the tablet, weather and traffic info already sent to the car's touch screen, and voice memos of the day's appointments punctuated by a gentle electronic voice.
Hollywood science fiction is already here.
