Each year in April, Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week showcase the best in interior design fashion for the perusal and scrutiny of design trade professionals – many of who have travelled over more than one continent to attend. Exhibits range from deep-pocketed international luxury brands with extravagantly dressed showrooms to emerging design talent operating on a shoestring camped out in a pop-up stand. Despite the budget or showroom amenities, resoundingly there are concurrent threads that prevail.
For three glorious days, I traipsed through the football field-sized exhibition halls of Salone del Mobile and the back streets of Milan’s fashionable districts in search of embryotic trends. I rediscovered trends that have stood the test of time, being simply reinvented. As the saying goes, “what’s old is new again”. Reporting exclusively for Luxaflex, here are my observations to share with you.
More are merrier
Why use one upholstery or window treatment fabric when you can use two or three! How many times when selecting fabrics or finishes you experience difficulty narrowing your choice to the final one? If Milan 2014 design trends hold true, those days are by gone. With Luxaflex Dual Roller Blinds and Linked Roller Blinds, adding different fabrics to either compliment or contrast the room in your home is easy. From upholstered furniture to kitchen joinery finishes, there are multiple finishes – often three or more to one furniture or joinery item. Chairs upholstered in multiple fabrics – complimentary or contrasting patterns – there are no rules in this game, it’s in the dealer’s hands.
Nature calls
If you can bring the outdoors inside then, do it! At Milan 2014, greenery is abounded – from bathrooms with planted green walls to mini-fridges purposed to grow herbs; particularly suited for inner-city apartment dwellers. Green is in – and its inside.
Unrefined timbers, textural - both visually and to the touch, were a key player for kitchen and bathroom joinery finishes; often counterbalanced by a polyurethane finished surface with a metallic finish thrown in for good measure. Natural earthy tones are a must in this year’s Milan 2014 design trends, if you are looking to apply this trend to your blinds, Luxaflex Verve Fabric for the Duette Architella Shades range features an urban chic with an eco-friendly quality. Made from 25% recycled materials, the irregular texture is enhanced with a subtle reflectivity in natural hues that reveal iridescent shine in natural light, making it the perfect addition to any home wanting to subtly incorporate the natural design trend.
Black out
The prevailing colour palettes were muted yet vibrantly engaged the sense of new: biting shades of green from olive that creep to evergreen; champagne and mushroom representing the brown family; and warm grey toning from high to low. Complimenting these palettes were splashes to swells of colour: cobalt to indigo blues was a stand out; orangey reds and lipstick pink; and a tasting plate of mustards. Missing in action is black and white. One finish is a trend in its own right with descriptive to follow.
Copper colours Milan
The finish and the ‘go to’ colour of the season is bronzed patina. Versatile in its application, bronzed copper was the toast of the town from tables, chairs, and fabrics; and used for interior finishes from top to toe. Polished, honed or brushed, bronze is a brilliant companion; and now is its time to shine.
No comments:
Post a Comment