Trends – halfway through 2018!
September 8th, 2018
Finally I saw the magazine Livingetc waiting for me in the supermarket. It had been a while since I had seen it, so no debating whether or not to buy it.
Although we are well into September I feel I still can discuss this July edition. The headlines says “ Artistic Style, Decorating with a Cubist twist”. Next I see mentioned; summer living, showers – how lovely as I am busy with bathrooms -, grown-up shades, and ‘Al Fresco shopping’ which I guess won’t have anything to do with al fresco paintings, but rather with the outdoor season.
So let’s see which pictures and articles I can find which will give away current and upcoming trends….
“Cubism by design”
So let’s start with the original Cubism period, this is a movement which is from the early 20thcentury. Great names like Picasso, Mondrian etc set this movement in motion. I think in the interior world (think of the Utrecht chair By Gerrit Rietveld)it was a simultaneously movement next to the Art deco style.To see this trend somewhat reflected in newly designed items (2018 collections) might not totally be a surprise as the art deco revamp has been busy for a while. But to me it is not really a trend at least not yet. In my opinion the art deco trend and the green botanical jungle and leaves trend, which is remarkable still going very strong, are still the main current trends, people just love it too much to let go.
A few items I have added to the two pages found in Livingect (front page and page 63) in the mood board above. Being a huge fan of Jonathan Adler I had to include the acrylic boxes and the chest of drawers from the Harlequin collection, both reflect this cubism style. The jumpsuit is from Gucci, summer 2018 runway collection. I must say it was the only cubism style one colour-block suit on the runway, with everything else still very flowery, opulent and “rufflely”. Perhaps a start of letting go of the flowery elegant look? Who knows? But I do love this suit!
How about this repainted vintage sideboard with an oil-slick finish on page 108. I absolutely love it! So I just have to post it. The heading is “The Art of Colour” and so let’s discuss that for a bit.
On the right of the picture of the page I have put the colour wheel. The colour wheel is not just a nicely rainbow organised wheel of colours. For those of you whom are not familiar with the wheel, I will shortly explain and after you will see immediately that the colour combination in the page above is not totally coincidental.
So the three primary colours are red, blue and yellow. Nicely and evenly placed away from each other. Between these primary colours we have the secondary colours, these are a mixture of two primary colours, so between red and yellow we have orange, a mixture of red and yellow and the same between yellow and blue there is green and blue and red mixed will give you violet.
You might have heard of complementary colours. These colours are each other opposites in the colour wheel. So, violet & yellow, green & red are for instance are each other compliments. In the wheel nuances of the colours are found, dulled or lighter versions. So in the page above in the mood board you can see that lovely blue green of the cabinet which is a bit dulled, is placed against a lovely dulled red orange wall. In the wheel you can see these two colours are each other’s compliments and therefor work well together! Hence the chosen combination
The dog is just an addition I could not resist adding to it. I saw it at the Frozen Fountain in Amsterdam.
The magazine also had an article about terra cotta, I just don’t see that coming back into fashion, but who knows.. but related to that colour I see they also speak of ‘new hues’; the warm orange almost terra cotta colour will make its way back to the interior.
On page 19 you will find this picture above (new hues). Looking at the chairs I just thought of the fabric I only saw yesterday from Dedar, not the same, more Asian, but with the orange and a bit warmer red/purple in it. The wallpaper with the birds and eggs which is designed by Kit Miles is just stunning.
The cushion isn’t very spectacular, however it is lovely, but most of all it is a signal as it is from H&M home and is in the new collection. To me when high street brands pick up on a colour or a trend in early days this might really spin off, and that’s the reason why I think this colour might get the green trend of the throne… Warm orange however works better in colder climates and in particular, rooms facing north. So maybe not for Abu Dhabi!
I have added the blue fake plant from Polspotten as this is a perfect example of how complimentary colours work. Just imagine that blue instead of the green plant in the picture. All will pop immediately!