Four Macro trends SHAPING INTERIOR AND DESIGN IN 2020-2021
When we observe and research global trends, we are able to glimpse at the future and learn how society is evolving, from living to working habits, from travel to consumption behaviours, from human to technological interactions. Creative Director, Anita Bloom has identified the top 4 macro trends that are and will continue to shape interior and design in 2020 and 2021. These are Designing Well-Being, Playful Living, Becoming Human, and The Future is Circular. Join us, as we take you through these global trends. 

Top macro trends #1 DESIGNING WELL-BEING

Designing for well-being is becoming a major goal within the design field. Brands and designers are exploring how the environments can affect our well-being, how technology together with interior and furniture design can be used to improve our wellness. Research on this matter is encompassing different fields, from home design to workspaces and hotels. Google has partnered with scientists on the “A Space for Being” exhibition to show how different aesthetic experiences can impact our health and well-being. The exhibition featured three rooms designed using the principles of neuroaesthetics – a branch of science that explores how visual aesthetics can impact our brains and physiology. With varying lighting, sounds, scents and textures, the rooms aimed to stimulate visitors’ senses in different ways.

Biophilia + New Nordic, is bringing nature inside our homes and workplaces. The “Elle Décor at Work” exhibition featured co-working spaces where the atmosphere was impregnated with a sense of visual comfort. Plenty of greenery was placed above working stations - this added flourishing vegetation to improve the microclimate and thus the overall wellness. The new nomadic way of living is helping us to focus on the essential, to live and travel lighter, thus improving our mobility and giving us more freedom. Panter & Tourron‘s Tense collection, for example, includes five pieces of easily-assembled flat-pack furniture. All the pieces – table, chair, pendant light, wall light and screens – are imagined as the essential furniture for global nomads. Each of the five items is easy to transport either flat or in a tube and can be assembled without the need for parts or tools, allowing us to recreate and rebuild a home everywhere in few steps.

Top macro trends #2 PLAYFUL LIVING

More is More, our lives are becoming more informal, hybrid, nomadic and entertaining. People, especially millennials, either at home or at work, want to be entertained and express their personalities. Brands and designers are working to meet all these needs with a more experimental, interactive and playful design.  Furniture and accessories should bring us joy, stimulate our creativity and give us the possibility to express ourselves. Maximalism is on the rise with its “more is more” mood, inviting us to mix and match bold colours, patterns, textures and unconventional shapes. 

80’s + 90’s POP. Social media, especially Instagram, is changing our perception of spaces and interior design. There is as a result an explosion of Instagramable pop-up spaces, especially in the retail sector. Brands have realised that the future of retail is playful, colourful and carefully crafted to be shared on social media. During the Milan Design Week, the Italian design studio DESIGNBYGEMINI created a pop-up space inspired by Miami in the 90s pop, featuring fluorescent colours and a tropical vibe. Visitors were invited to engage, to take pictures in a pool and to share it on social media. We can also notice a nostalgic comeback to the 80s and 90s pop bringing back bright colours and neon. The Versace Home collection and its outdoor pieces, such as the Versace Pop Medusa chair, is a great example of this revival. 

Top macro trends #3 BECOMING HUMAN

Artificial Intelligence. The rise and rapid evolution of disruptive technologies such as A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), augmented reality, biotechnology and 3D printing are challenging us with important issues. For example: is technology changing design? Will A.I. replace designers? How will robotics affect our way of living? As far as designers and companies are concerned, the future seems to be more about a creative collaboration between designers and algorithms, rather than a replacement of designers with A.I. 

Biotechnology is also pushing the boundaries towards products that are a true expression of our bodies and needs. Puma, in collaboration with MIT and Fraunhofer Institute, has designed the Breathing Shoe with microorganisms including bacteria (the good ones), fungi and micro algae that can sense sweat or heat. During physical activity our feet sweat and produce heat with more intensity in some areas.

These microorganisms remove the material on the shoe in a selective way in the most crucial areas creating unique ventilation patterns. All these new technologies are impacting the visual side of design, and as a result new colours, shapes and textures are emerging.  According to the Korean company Noroo, leader in the paint sector, the colours of the future will be fluid, nuanced, undefined, metaphysical and lunar like the tides. 

Top macro trends #4 THE FUTURE IS CIRCULAR

Circular Design. What is Circular Design - Circular design is designing of a cycle in which resources are continuously cycled in various forms, following a reuse and recycle loop. These resources therefore do not go to waste. Circular design calls for a closed loop, where resources are continuously repurposed.

A circular approach to economy is becoming mainstream and as a result circular design is nowadays a priority for many brands and designers. Waste is no longer seen as unwanted materials or a threat to the environment. Designers instead are repurposing waste into valuable resources for the creation of sustainable and circular design products. Designers are focused on designing furniture from ruined and wasted materials as well as recycled plastic and Bio materials such as hemp, vegetables, fungus, plants which are turned into beautiful and biodegradable design.

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