Interior design trends have come into sharper focus since the pandemic necessitated spending more time in our homes. This gave us time to cast a more critical eye on our domestic surroundings and consider how they could suit our needs better – and be more aesthetically pleasing. From Japanese design and craft influences to interiors aglow with optimistic yellow tones, Effect rounds up some of the key trends to emerging so far in 2022.
Fringed lampshades
Fringed lampshades reminiscent of those that illuminated early 20th-century homes are back in vogue. Leading this revival is East Sussex-based Anna Hayman with her boho-chic confections that channel 1920s Art Deco and 1970s boutique Biba (look out for them at Clerkenwell Design Week (CDW) from 24–26 May). Also partial to fringed lampshades is London brand House of Hackney, many of which are more redolent of Old Hollywood glamour, with their leopard-print shades and pineapple-shaped bases.
Japanese minimalism returns
American interior designer Kelly Wearstler has just launched ultra-simple sofas and chairs that manifest Japanese influences – from minimal forms to low-level seating – all on show at CDW. Appropriately, publicity shots of the collection were snapped in the Japanese-inspired Schindler House in Los Angeles, designed in the 1920s by Rudolph Schindler, who’d worked with architect Frank Lloyd Wright on his project Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
Similar in style is the new pared-down FLW lounge chair by Samuel Wilkinson for Ishinomaki Laboratory, a workshop in Miyagi, Japan, set up for the local community affected by the tsunami triggered by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. FLW is part of a collection created by UK-based designers, available from SCP.
Golden yellow tones
The world’s been going red, but it’s also the time of the brash hue’s more mellow twin to shine. The Gallery, an eaterie at cool London venue Sketch, is famous for its ever-evolving decor co-created by interior designer India Mahdavi and high-profile artists. When she redesigned it in 2016 in collaboration with artist David Shrigley, installing blush-pink seating, it helped to kickstart the surprisingly enduring trend for millennial pink. Given The Gallery’s trend-setting reputation, it wouldn’t surprise us if its latest incarnation – dreamt up by Mahdavi and artist Yinka Shonibare, all in warm, golden yellows – sparks a far-reaching trend for hues ranging from spicy turmeric to hazy maize.
The new marbling
As Effect has reported on before, the ancient craft of marbling is being reinterpreted by Natascha Maksimovic, known for her contemporary twist on the Japanese craft of suminagashi, as part of a burgeoning trend for hand-painted homeware. Her latest project, Imaging Ikebana – a paper installation co-created with paper flower artist Posy Patou, featuring marbled paper leaves – will be shown during London Craft Week (LCW) from May 9 to 15. Rupert Bevan’s new marbled RB Wallpaper, developed during one lockdown and produced in his Shropshire workshop, will also be on display during LCW.
Free-form rugs
Designers are increasingly exploring the idea of rugs in free-form shapes. Artist and illustrator Emily Forgot’s new rug collection Construct, made by directional East London-based rug company Floor Story, channels the “clean lines and simplicity of modernism” and “loud, more playful postmodernism,” she says. It comes in feelgood shades such as sky blue and sunshine yellow and, crucially, is modular and interactive, comprising different elements that can be added to and reconfigured by their owner to suit their personal taste.