Design Trends

With a continued sense of doom and gloom hanging over the world we need a shot of colour to lift the mood. I’m not advocating a riot of colour (best not to encourage that kind of behaviour especially here in London! shhh! nobody mention the riots….) What we can do is introduce a kaleidoscopic piece that add an instant hit of happiness.

Sonya Winner’s After Matisse rug is inspired by the paper cut outs of the painter. Blocks of colour are overlapped like floating pieces in a kaleidoscope; the thick New Zealand wool pile is hand carved to give variations in depth. Its a beautiful piece that I had the chance to stroke at Super Design so I can personally vouch for its vibrancy and soft touch. You can also read an interview with Sonya on Pop Art Rock Girls blog

Plaid Bench by Raw Edges for Dilmos

“Each of the designs can stand alone however, Raw Edges has made the three benches in such a way that they interlock into one another horizontally and vertically, creating a large rectangular platform forming a vibrant plaid pattern.”

Boca do Lobo’s Pixel Cabinet features 1088 individual triangles of lacquered wood. The pieces have been overlay ed with gold and silver leaf and translucent lacquer applied to give the cabinet a lustrous shimmering finish.

Bashko Trybek’s Color Wheel Clock  “A Color Wheel clock provides a new per­spect­ive on the way of com­mu­nic­at­ing time. This idea refers to the Sun — the first, primt­ive clock in nature, reflect­ing the passing of time. The Sun emits light, a spec­trum of col­ours vis­ible while going through a prism. This phe­nom­ena was an inspir­a­tion for design­ing the face of the clock. Read­ing the time from the color wheel clock is simple: red stands for noon, the wheels from biggest to smal­lest stand, respect­ively, for hours, minutes and seconds.” I found it a bit tricky to read at first but pop back to his webistie and you’ll see an online real time version.

Bright vibrant colours have also been used in a couple of Hotel refits that have opened up this year. In Paris Matali Crasset has designed the interior for Hi Matic

The hotel contains 42 flexible cabins that allow the visitor to use the space as a home from home. With 100% internet access a memory foam bed that serves a sofa during the day the cabin is designed to change with with your needs througout the day. Each cabin features bright panels of colour with translucent panels allowing the light to filter through.

In Barcelona the Hotel Mimic aims to further enhance your mood with a shot of colour. As designer Xavier Claramunt says “Colours provide a dose of optimism: vibrant colours are capable of lifting the morale as a palette of dull greys is to make it sink. Colours will not raise the economy but they can brighten your mood”