Our spaces are becoming more and more personalized, mixing different styles, different materials and different colors, but there are some very well-defined trends that are here to stay and that we discovered with eight bloggers coming from Europe and the States at Domotex 2018.

At Domotex 2018 in Hannover, we attended a great panel discussion with eight bloggers from the interior design world. American blogger Holly Becker founder of Decor 8 was the moderator of this panel. The others were: Stefan Nillsson, Niki Brantmark, Agatha Dimmich, Igor Josifovic, Mette Jakobsen, Desiree Groenendal and Michael Christie.

Each blogger presented the main trends for this year, and at the end of the panel it was amazing to see the correspondence among most of the inspirations you will read about below. We tried to match each trend with pictures from what we saw at Domotex while going around the exhibitors’ stands.

 

Rugs ❤

Rugs were the main topic of all conversations. Everybody agreed that rugs would be a lasting trend for the years to come. They will be used broadly and layered – “two are better than one” as Mette Jakobsen said. Rugs will be used in creative ways, with innovative shapes and peculiar textures that will challenge our senses. Different yarn pile height will be used to create an interesting structure so that rugs will be something you will want to walk on but also touch them and hang them on walls. In fact, many will also take inspiration from art or will be produced as an art piece itself that will have a story behind it as something that you can tell your guests when they visit your home. The textures shapes and colors will make them unique and individualized so that they will become the statement piece of the room.

Two overlaying rugs at Heimtextil in Frankfurt
One of the carpets at the Carpet Design Awards

Rugs are something we at Aquafil are also betting on. That is why we presented our ECONYL® regenerated yarn as an ingredient to make soft, beautiful rugs that have a smaller environmental footprint because our yarn comes from recovered waste instead of raw fossil material and can be regenerated again and again without any loss of quality.

A special pattern inspired by the english swimwear brand Auria and used for this carpet made with ECONYL® regenerated yarn coming from waste material instead of oil.
A selection of rugs made using ECONYL® regenerated yarn
A corner of our booth at Domotex was dedicated to rugs

Mix of styles

Contrast and a mix of styles are the new rules. In the same space, we will see a mix of traditional and modern, natural and urban and, as Holy Backer called it, a “Middleist”, which is a style between minimalism and maximalism. So, a Scandinavian minimalist space will have a warm touch thanks to the use of different materials or accent color or with the use of a unique rug breaking up the minimalism of the room. This mix of styles will also be a mix of materials where we will see, for example, textile carpet flooring mixed with wood or ceramic, or textile carpet tiles together with linoleum.

Wood, linoleum and textile flooring can be mixed together for special effects

Some materials from the inspiration for the future corner

Two big streams will be present: a disruptive style and another opposing one inspired by calmness. The disruptive style, also called ugly or playful is a trend that, according to Stefan Nillson, is coming from the fashion world (Balenciaga, Gucci). It is a trend that includes vintage and imperfect objects, maybe also broken but unique. This is what Desiree Groenendal called “the perfectly imperfect look”.   So not all will be about look but also about the stories behind that unique old/broken/personalized objects will be able to tell. On the other side, there will be a calm atmosphere that pushes toward designing spaces that are a safe haven with natural colors, eco-friendly design and plants.

Plants but also wallpapers and carpet tiles inspired by natur

Plants will be a big design element, both as real trees that will be growing in our spaces and as wallpapers or patterns on carpet flooring inspired by the natural world. According to Niki Brantmark, the outside will be part of the inside also thanks to frameless windows that will turn the natural vistas of the outside into art.

The carpet is part of the Urban Jungle collection by Tisca, made with ECONYL® regenerated yarn.

Surprisingly, also at Heimtextil, Frankfurt’s International Trade Fair for Home and Contract Textiles, we heard about “Perfect Imperfection” which is a perfectly imperfect design with the revival of craft to enhance the narrative and meaning behind an object. This idea is embraced by designers in various fields. Another design technique, “Soft Minimal”, was also presented. This is the idea of beautiful and smart products that are simple, elegant, functional and designed to be cherished for the lifetime rather than discarded and replaced the next season.

Perfect Imperfection at Heimtextil
Soft Minimal at Heimtextil

Also the topic of “Green Workspace” was present at Heimtextil with a corner created by the Dutch company Srinklr who was encouraging visitors to use greens and plants in the workspace by giving tips and explaining the overall positive impacts using plants can have on the workspace.

Visual Dimension

In this mix of styles, the visual dimension will be an essential aspect to play with, using dramatic lighting that will play with the dark, moody hues for exciting and unusual effects. Also, mirrors will be used to create these visual effects. They will have odd shapes and frames and, used with personalized lights, will be more and more of a statement maker. The visual game will also include visual tricks done with 3D effects, Trompe-l’oil and unexpected shapes.

Individual

If the panel of our bloggers was not enough, this was also the keynote theme for this Domotex edition: Unique Youniverse. The idea is to be able to create with space your own universe, to have few well-selected pieces that represent you and that tell a story about you and your life. This trend includes the personalization of design objects with, for example, broad use of custom carpets or special lights. Craftmanship will also be a recurring element with a mix of traditions with a contemporary twist to create unique objects that will stay with us for a long time.

Part of this trend will also be the “maker movement” so the possibility that those unique design objects could be personalized by their owners with creativity and a playful approach making them as individual as possible.

Color your floor

The same idea was presented at Heimtextil with the “Maker Space”. The Atelier was a space where traditional techniques of dying and weaving were used in a modern and sustainable way to create beautiful and unique textiles.

Maybe a bit connected to this strong focus on the self is also a special trend that Stefan Nillsson brought up and that he called “the protest trend”. This comes from the great success of the #metoo campaign and underlines how a new trend will be moral leadership. The color for this will be red, a color for protest that will be used as a graphic element together with black and white.

Colors

The color palette will broadly use natural colors and beige together with highlight colors as bold accents. The new trends will include muted pinks, gold, mustard yellow, terracotta, browns and a kind of emerald/plastic green from the ’80s.

Muted pink, browns, terracotta and gold
Gold ❤

We are pleased about these colors that came out at this panel discussion as they are all included in our new ECONYL® global color range that we presented at our booth at Domotex along with a video by our designer Gaëlle Merlin.

The ECONYL® Global COlor Range — a special regenerated Nylon yarn with a unique color range

Originally published on Medium.