Design echoes this trend. The plastic of the 1960s is forgotten, as is the industrial look embracing sheet and other metals and hard angles and lines of fiercely loft-style interiors. In 2020, interiors reflect ‘slow’ lifestyles that are more in sync with the elements.
- Curves
From the famous Palais Bulles, a jewel of organic architecture built between 1979 and 1984 by Antti Lovag and recently the holiday rental of choice for hip designer Simon Porte Jacquemus, to the 3D renderings of imaginary Modernist interiors by the superbly talented Alexis Christodoulou (which we featured in a previous issue), via Charlotte Taylor’s gentle, architecturally inspired paintings, the trend both on Instagram and elsewhere is for softer angles and the opening up of interiors to new horizons inspired by the unique beauty of our planet. Aided by a natural colour scheme of ecrus, terracotta and other warm ochres – this organic movement reminds us of the preciousness of the earthly resources that we had started to take for granted.
- An inspiring environment
Having fully understand the urgency of paying homage to the beauty of their environment, many designers are drawing their inspiration directly from the simple and necessarily accidental beauty of their surroundings. This is the case with the young designer Margaux Keller, who recently launched a debut collection of decorative accessories directly inspired by her native, much-loved South of France, consisting of objects that evoke the hypnotic riches of the Mediterranean Sea.
- 100% nature
Sometimes, design goes even further in faithfully copying nature in order to both pay it poetic homage and afford it a place indoors. We call this biomorphism. It’s seen, for example, in the design brand PCM with its glacier-styled candles – candles one is very careful not to let melt! – and in the oversized pebble cushions by Smarin, which bring the loveliest of shores into modern interiors. It’s also seen in the ‘reversed volume’ collection of ceramic bowls by Austrian duo MischerTraxler, marked by the negative imprint of the fruits and vegetables on which they’ve been directly moulded – which remind us of the process used by Normal Studio to create the wood-grain-effect terracotta fruit basket.
If nature makes us happy, we’re tempted to go even further and surf the biomorphism wave as far as biomimetics, which consists of taking inspiration in natural solutions and transporting their principles into matters of human engineering. Certain architectural projects have already used this approach, especially Zimbabwe’s Eastgate Building – nicknamed the ‘termite mound’ – which has no air conditioning but is cooled by a chimney-like construction based on the ingenious principle observed in termites, who control the coolness of their habitat despite the very arid regions in which they live…
Discover Woody fruit basket by Normal Studio
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