Back to the future
Design mines past and looks forward
As she sifted through the new furniture, fabrics, window coverings, and accessories being introduced this season by the 80 vendors at the Boston Design Center, vice president Alexis Contant experienced unexpected moments of time travel. Patterned fabrics, metallic wallpaper, deep aubergine and sunflower-yellow textiles, and nature-inspired motifs delivered her to an innocent, and far more adventurous, period in home decor.
"Paisley is back," Contant said in her cluttered Seaport District office earlier this week. "There are at least 20 companies that are introducing paisley. But these aren't like my Fair Isle paisley sweaters from way back."
This week Contant presented her 2008 trend report to professionals at the Boston Design Center, and aside from the revised retro styles, several forward-looking trends, such as technology incorporated into home design, also emerged. Like couture, these are trends that will eventually make their way to the mass market. In fashion, colors and shapes from the runways sooner or later arrive at the Gap, and in home design, the trends that Contant is charting will soon be popping up in every mall in America.
"The companies that are doing this in the Design Center are the equivalent of high fashion," she says. "They are not bound by any limitations. They don't edit, they create." Here are a few of the newest trends this fall.
The new Maya Romanoff wall coverings (left) look as if they could have been stripped from Ivana Trump's powder room. Gold and silver mother-of-pearl wall tiles, gold and copper wallpaper covered with tiny, shimmering glass beads, and gossamer silver paper all glimmer under the showroom lights. There is an overall increase in opulent shine at the Design Center thanks to an explosion of metallics, which are showing up everywhere from porcelain floor tiles that resemble stainless steel to gold textiles.
New for 2008: Italian paisley (Floridiana by Etro, above), damask paisley, cashmere paisley, and, yes, even elephant ear-size paisleys. Taking a page directly from fashion, prints are returning to home design, with paisley pushing its way to the front of the pack. "What's different about these paisleys are the colors," says Contant. "It's much more sophisticated than the paisley you grew up with." For the ultimate trend surfer, Stroheim & Romann is offering a line of metallic paisley fabrics.
Intense colors such as sunflower yellow, mustard yellow, and purple are gaining prominence in home decor - as accent colors (Houles's Beaugency Coussin, above). Following a trend toward India-inspired palettes, designers are using rich purples and yellows in pillows and furniture upholstery. The colors are also showing up in Indian-inspired prints (hello again, paisley).
DESIGN EMBRACES TECHNOLOGY
There have been tense moments in the past between high-end interior design and technology - many an ugly television console soured a decorator's vision. But the relationship is improving, thanks to products such as a mirror that is also a flat screen TV. When the TV is off, all that is seen is a mirror. When it is turned on, it offers a crisp picture. Technology is also creating sleeker bathroom (such as Dornbracht's Elemental Spa, pictured) and kitchen profiles, and it's also changing the office.
MOVING THE OUTSIDE INSIDE
Outdoor furniture, once restricted to a world of wicker seats and striped ticking cushions, has become so elegant that interior designers are now using it to decorate interior spaces. For people with small children and pets, the advantage of having a room full of durable, easy-to-clean, and accident-proof furniture is invaluable. Designers such as Oscar de la Renta and companies like Janus et Cie are creating shapely furniture that can survive the elements and look great inside. "If it wasn't presented to you as outdoor furniture, you'd have no idea," Contant says.
DECOR GETS EARTHY
Just about any form found in nature is being adapted for interior design - shells, branches, roots, antlers, fossils, and wood grain are being transformed into furniture design and textiles (from left: Rose Cumming for DeffinFournir, Duralee, and Urban Archaeology). While eco-friendly products are a huge design phenomenon, Contant says using natural forms in decor design is not about recycling. Instead, designers are simply being inspired by Mother Nature. "We're still seeing incredible eco-friendly products," she says. "But this trend is more about shape, color, and materials that come from the earth."
MODERN TRADITIONALISM
Traditional furniture profiles are undergoing a modern makeover thanks to designers who are ready to move on from the stranglehold of mid-century modern furniture. "It's not a reaction to mid-century, but the next generation," says Contant of the trend. "These are pieces that are truly classic, but they're not stodgy. They're young without looking faddish." Lamp by Baker, Knapp & Tubbs; table by DeffinFournir.
For product information, go to bostondesign.com
Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com 