So firstly I would like to wish all my readers a Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoyed all the festivities.
I realised today that I haven’t posted anything yet this year and I apologise for this but I have been pretty busy working on some articles that I will post on my Articles I’ve Written section as soon as they appear in print. You can look forward to an article on the current trend for textured wallcoverings and also an article on lighting for interior residential projects.
But for the time being I was thinking about what I should write about for my first post of 2011 and what better topic than to look at the myriad interior trend predictions for this year that are doing the rounds at the moment. I have written an article on this topic myself but again I will post that up as soon as it has been published.
Until then I would like to take a look at the four predictions that resulted from the IMM Cologne Trend Board Workshop and featured in the IMM Cologne Trend Book for 2011.
The Trend Board Workshop saw designers Patricia Urquiola, Defne Koz, Harald Gründl, Martin Leuthold and the editor Marco Velardi meet up for two days in Cologne. Together they identified four of the most important trends in furniture and interior design, which have been summed up in a trend book called Interior Trends 2011.
Below is a summary of the trends predicted. For more information visit the IMM Cologne Website
Trend 1: Emotional Austerity
This trend is defined by clear and unostentatious aesthetics, which betray the passion of their makers and owners for details and quality. In their search for the essence of things, the designers are combining classic and established forms with new functions and new technologies.
The colours and materials are dominated by nature: wood, leather, felt and plant fibres are complemented by technical fabrics; an earthy olive hue dominates over lush and pale shades of green and is joined by powder shades from rosé to brown.
Trend 2: Surprising Empathy
The second trend sees new forms and new materials teaching us a new way of seeing things. What looks light turns out to be heavy and resilient, what seems heavy and solid captivates us with its lightness. This applies to both forms and materials. On the whole, the aesthetics are defined by angular and folded structures.
The dominant colour is a cold grey, accompanied by ash grey and black and brightened up with vibrant dashes of citrus yellow and mandarin orange. A light taupe mediates between grey and white and adds a little softness to the colour scale.
Trend 3: Re-Balancing
This trend features furniture that is personal, meaningful and practical – icons of everyday life. The preference is for natural materials. The surface textures are knitted or woven, occasionally even hand-spun.
A warm rhubarb-red radiates positive energy and warmth and is combined with creamy-white, corn-yellow and tan shades ranging from light brown all the way to terracotta.
Trend 4: Transforming Perspectives
This trends sees material as an experiment. A great deal of importance is attached to material finishes, to polished or matt surfaces. The experimental workshop of “Transforming Perspectives” prefers to work with foamed metals, composite mineral materials, glass and metal fabrics.
A dark plum-blue provides the dominant background for both an artificial lavender shade and a dove-grey with a violet shimmer. Important features are emphasised in a caramel shade with a metallic-brown gleam.
However, IMM Cologne is not the only exhibition to be dabble in trend forecasting. The Paris-based interiors exhibition Maison et Objet that takes place this month has released a video detailing its predictions for interiors in the forth-coming year. The commentary is in French but there are also subtitles in English for any non-Francophones reading this.