Design Before Fashion

 

The perfection of the Duralex glass design is best experienced when the Picardie is used for drinking. The tapered shape fits the hand much more naturally than a straight-sided glass, and your fingers slip nicely into the hollows of the flutings on the lower part of the side, and even with wet hands the glass feels secure

FACT: We are being overloaded with information! We are facing some terrifying, brutal and intense times ahead including war, economy meltdown, what we are eating, how we look, climate change, science the shift of world leadership and TOO MUCH CHOICE. I don’t know about you but I’m finding it hard to look to the future because it scars me and I find it so hard to make decisions. Should I go for this phone, or this brand of organic chicken, should I drink bottled water? ahhh!

Welcome Home – a guide to modern living is about reminding us about the meaning of our home. Seems meaningless when you read the words above but actually now more than any decade this is the one place where we can be ourselves and escape for just a few hours a day from the craziness going on around outside. It's where we can let go and just be.

Photo by Cate Underwood; photo by Clumsy Bird

 Photo by Yerinmok

The Ordinary Done Extremely Well
This is why Stephen Baileys words he shared with me back in mid 2008 about the Duralex glass holds so much importance to me today when I consider the space I live in. "The ordinary done extremely well." It's not about "beauty" but "evocative power"!!! Wow what words to share. 

Photo by Olga Onischenko

 We don't just want stuff anymore. A purchase has to make sense - to us and our bank balance and for the planet. Less is increasingly more. Brands will have to show us how essential their offer is. Products masked with gizmos and gadgets now make us question quality. Why has a designer added gimmicks to their design? What are they hiding? Websites such as Moggit who highlight silly products ring alarm bells to me. As funny as the site is the serious side is there is too many unwanted, badly designed goods on the market. 

Do we need big industrial coffee machines in our home when we can make beautifully brewed coffee 

from straight forward, simple to use coffee makers. Dining room photo by Randy Martin;  

Chemex coffee maker photo by Ta

The other day I walked into a little shop called Utility (very much like London's Labour and Wait). They showcased a range of ordinary, everyday household items, presenting them as timeless marvels of both form and functionality. Mixing the traditional with sustainability, each item is a design classic, gently persuading you of its simple, sleek purpose in an otherwise world of bamboozling gadgetry complexity. With products valuing quality, reliability and a bargain I felt so calm and relaxed. I wasn't bombarded with brand choice 

I was embraced with familiarity. It was perfect. It highlighted to me simplicity matters.

Clean Lines, no direct brand attachment, well made and timeless products are great basics to kit your home with. Here you buy sturdy, unpretentious friends who will always be there for you. Feather Duster, from Labour and Wait, chopping board from, Utility; Doublefacette tableware by Postfossil; Enamel baking tin by Utility; wooden stool; Brown Betty teapot by Utility

Product with a sense of history and the ability to transport you to a place you would like to be is becoming more and more important. It's not so much the vintage find but the nostalgic feel.  Pestle & Mortar from Labour and Wait, Tile Stove by Dick van Hoff for Royal Tichelaar Makkum; Joyce Cabinet by Pinch Design ; Canteen Chair by Very Good & Proper; Tin Toy by Tin Arcade; Wastberg Light by StudioIlse

Future Fashion Trends For Our Home 
Regarding interior trends you are going to hear a lot about simplicity, refraining, soothing, wellbeing, upcycling, sustainable living and emotional design. Fewer and better is the new mantra.


Minimalism's New Definition Is Simplicity
In the 1990s it was all about minimalism. Celebrity architect, John Pawson, was influenced by Japanese design. He often created large empty white spaces only including a standout pine table and chair in a vast room. Accessories were usually large river pebbles and bamboo artfully placed. Minimalism today is called simplicity. Today modern Japanese homes embrace a simple aesthetic mirroring the 90's ideals. However the difference in this decade to come is the importance for us to stamp our identity in our home with creativity, nostalgia, connection to nature and a sense of belonging .

This home by Japanese architect Yoshichika Takagi resembles homes produced in 1990's.  Limited materials, large open spaces and furniture chosen like art that has been well considered.

Natural materials used inside our homes gives urban dwellers a direct relationship to nature. Private home designed by Suppose Design Office and log cabin by Piet Hein Eek. highlights the ideals for linking to primitive living 

 We have thrown away the interior design book because more of us are more confident in our own design choices. We create our homes to meet our family's requirements. 

 The importance in making a creative stamp inside the home is growing. Instead of thinking about the next buyer it's about creating  a visual story about you and your family. Handmade origami paper  birds photo by Ultra; Painted artwork on kitchen wall photo by Nicholas Hance McElroy

photo by Yann Faucher

What I'm sharing with you in this post is consider what you buy and don't fall into fashion fads.  Ask yourself will I be bored with this by next year? Will it endure my family's lifestyle? Do I really need another? Yes stick with what you love. I'm not suggesting to loose your style or identity. If you are a collector keep on collecting, if you live and breathe glamour let your home bling. But never forget with your home it's about creating a place where people feel welcomed and a landscape where you can watch your life age like a loved leather chair. Mementos you have collected should give you opportunities to dream and transport you back to a tropical beach you have bathed on, a jungle you have trekked through and a city you have shopped in. 

You are going to be fed a lot of information in this new decade where you will feel pushed, shoved, poked and pinched.  So when you are confused about how your home should look and feel come back to the Duralex glass and then ask can it be improved?