Interior Trends: What we saw at Decorex 2018
This week is one of the biggest events in the design calendar; the London Design Festival, which runs until this Sunday, 23rd September. One of the main shows during this iconic week takes place at Decorex International, in Syon Park. An annual meeting of interior designers, retailers, furniture makers and interior professionals makes for a stimulating and visually stunning event that spans four days of the Festival. We spent the day at Decorex to discover the latest interior and colour trends, meet with product designers and makers and explore the very best that the interior design world has to offer for the coming year.
Entryway – theme ‘Blank Canvas’
To welcome you to the show in truly spectacular style, four interior designers explore the theme of ‘Blank Canvas’ for the exhibition in the welcome hall. Our favourite two themes are pictured here. We love the wild landscape design by Woulfe and the stunning colour palette of navy blues and copper by Maddux Creative.
We really enjoyed the demonstration by international artisan decorators, Pigmentti who were sculpting stunning underwater scenes out of plaster. The results were rather mesmerising.
Some key trends that we picked up on at this year’s show:
- Deep red looks to be a key colour trend for the upcoming season
- Golden highlights and metalwork remain popular
- Wicker and rattan furniture has lots of staying power
- Exotic and tropical themed prints, patterns and wallpapers
- Mixed material surfaces
Takeaways from the seminar: How to create a house that will last forever
We went to listen to the talk given by Country Life's interiors editor, Giles Kime on how to create a house that will last forever. Since many of us don’t have the time, money or energy to continually keep redecorating our houses, or to buy new pieces with every changing season, this was the perfect talk for anyone who wants to invest in lasting design. The talk was all about building houses that will last for future generations, with an emphasis on celebrating craftsmen and skilled specialists that complete their projects to extraordinary detail using natural materials like wood and stone. One of the key questions was ‘why is longevity important?’. In answer, the panel discussed the added value when things are done properly and that an arts and crafts movement is quite likely a response to the growing digitisation culture we’re currently immersed in. It’s about enjoying the process and building/making things with structural integrity – something we believe strongly at Arlo & Jacob. If you create something beautiful, people will take care to look after it. There was a central discussion around the lack of skilled craftsmen and that training and apprenticeship schemes are so desperately needed, with a focus on the desire to get more women into these roles. This attention to detail is about embracing technology as a tool to advance what was there previously – allowing us to focus more time on the designing and making process, and ultimately in producing the very best finished product. The key points from the talk were:
- Integrity
- Quality materials
- Embracing the architecture
We couldn’t agree more and understand that while many people don’t have the budget to completely kit their houses out in bespoke design, knowing where to invest your money in thoughtfully designed pieces that are built to last is far more important than buying the most expensive pieces you can find, or any piece that is described as ‘on-trend’.
In need of a glass of fizz?
Visit the colonial style bar – designed by Lambart & Browne who were given the task of expressing “bon viveur” as this year’s theme. We think you’ll really enjoy the peacock atop the multi-layered beautiful tapestry of fabrics and stunning furniture pieces while you indulge in a glass of bubbles of a G&T.
New for 2018 is CraftWork
CraftWork is described as a platform for the next generation of designers across a multitude of disciplines.
For the kids
Often overlooked, design can be just as important for little ones. We met with Villa Nova, a children’s soft furnishing company that brings illustrations to life on textiles. We were lucky enough to meet one of the designers and have him show us his favourite drawings that adorned some gorgeous drapes. We highly recommend visiting them for inspiration for nurseries and children’s bedrooms.