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After a two-year absence, Anne Marie Commandeur from the Stijlinstituut Amsterdam was back at the Heimtextil trends forum, speaking to a packed house. Rather than doom and gloom, Commandeur said the trend table had taken thoughts and inspiration from positive impulses that can inspire people towards good, harmless and meaningful design.
POSITIVE DESIGN WITH PAST INFLUENCE
“We are opting for positive connection and positivity is what we need as we do live in this positively exciting, but also bustling and sometimes very worrisome climate at the moment.”
“It’s also a time where our favourite things are increasingly predetermined by means of algorithms.”
“So we seek inspiration in the unconventional solutions found in the former as well as in future design concepts.”
Some of the names Commandeur mentions need no introduction. She said designers like Charles and Ray Eames, Architect Joseph Eichler, who made a significant historical contribution to the development of modern architecture and furniture, will continue to influence the direction of interiors and design.
NO MORE “COLOUR OF THE YEAR”
“Also I want to get rid of the idea that we can choose each season or each year one colour, the colour of the year.”
“Happily I’m not contracted by Pantone, but we have to rethink our ideas of trends and colours.”
“No longer look for the one colour for all, for one specific season, because there’s a big variety which is needed also for the big variety of consumers, and regions, functionalities, type of textures and light being used within a space.”
Commandeur added that products need to prove their value, both functionally and aesthetically.
“To make these items with an enhanced aesthetic value there must be an investment in creativity and intensive engineering and progressive interpretation to come to something really new.”
“Playful design is extremely powerful and I think it’s something that should be stimulated.”
She referenced the Ready Made Curtain by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Kvadrat as such a product: “functional, simple, beautifully executed.”
“Also in textiles we recognise a growing interest in monofilament fibres, durable synthetics, performance fabrics and thinking in a holistic manner about interiors.”
“So in addition to making durable long lasting products, we also consider their after effect, after use.”
