design at Decorex 2022
This time of year interior designers diaries are filled with trade shows- a place for brands to showcase the latest innovations and designs. Lots of companies are revealing their latest collections and new products but you can also see the wider picture and the direction that the industry is moving; The trends but more importantly the shifts in focus as a whole. Here’s an overview of what was going on at Decorex this week…
Three things of note from Decorex October 2022
An insight into interior design!
Material matters- Many of the brands across a range of disciplines have made the move to sustainable fabrics and are highlighting the traceability of their products. Lights that have been 3D printed using plastics salvaged from the Sea made a splash at Soho lighting. There were paint companies with sustainability at their core- this is certainly an area that is pushing the move towards greener practices paying attention to VOC’s (Volatile organic compounds), packaging and postage and waste. Although not at Decorex this year I must mention Little Greene who have started to re:mix paint from unused stock to create limited batches of certain colours to prevent waste- they’re re-mix range is also considerably cheaper too! From wooden products including light shades proudly FSC certified (Forest Stewardship Council) to items made from reused or reusable materials there’s a definite shift in the right direction!
Naturally inspired-Long has the link been in place between nature and design but this year the entire show was filled with prints, colour palettes and objects that directly referenced nature. Botanical wallpaper was everywhere with archived collections being remastered at V&A to a fantastical fungi print created in a collaboration between Stella McCartney and Cole and Sons. Rest assured there is something wonderfully wild for everyone’s walls! But it was the same story across all areas- fabrics in the rich jewel tones of autumn or the fresh shades of spring mean that having a sofa that references your favourite season would be easier than ever before!
Creatively crafted- My favourite area at the show was a new section upstairs that put creativeness into practice- here you could see first hand how artists and makers create items from hand embroidery to lino prints, hand painted surfaces that look like stone or marbling on paper. Some of the disciplines you could even have a go at… which obviously I partook of! There’s a definite shift towards all things hand crafted and handmade. Perhaps the pandemic has awoken in us a need for simplistic, nostalgic and comforting details to surround ourselves with- Who knows! Certainly overall there was a definite shift in aesthetic away from anything starkly minimal or futuristic towards spaces and objects that had a comforting and in some cases nostalgic feel.