TREND FORECASTING - SOLACE

Guest Speaker, Victoria Redshaw, Trend Forecaster at Scarlette Opus shares her views on looking ahead in design, an excerpt from the Decor + Design Show, Melbourne 2021

TREND 1 - SOLACE

Stay at home orders gave us the opportunity to experience a different way of life:

Slower pace;

Different work/life balance;

Different ways to stay connected;

Different perspective on purpose and priorities;

Strong need to designate home as a sanctuary;

Newly valued calm;

Simple, better balanced life;

Home environment by necessity;

Welcome quiet and solitude as a quality of the pandemic;

Dense migration to cities takes a step back;

Reconsider lifestyles;

Flexible office policy;

Technology;

Relocate to rural towns in search of serenity;

Establish feeling of wholeness and obtain contentment;

Acceptance – letting go of striving for perfection;

Pre-pandemic consumerism is questioned.

2022 makes space in our lives and home. We aim to live a balanced life, of wholeness and contentment, living more modestly and more fully.

There is a future of less - this is a positive. A visual quietness and space creation, minimalism.

Beautiful, useful things are calming and comforting, interior schemes infilled with tenderness.

Being adaptable is crucial - our homes have to be.

Structure, layout, products in and out must accommodate limitless activities in our limited space

Private space to experience joy of doing nothing. We embrace technology.

WHAT THE TREND TELLS US

This trend is as much about state of mind and way of life as the décor itself. There is a calm, composure, serene, and light filled tranquillity.

We are protected by materials, products that self clean, repel, nourish, adjust, prohibit bacterial growth, and store energy. We see voice activated products reduce contact with shared surfaces, offer a helping hand, taking on tasks that shift from computers to companions, and hands free interactions. Modular characteristics are adaptable. All bolster emotional bonds between people and products to ensure feelings of security, supported by our possessions.

Places at home are a pleasure to spend time in. Soothing healthy, purifying, pleasurable.

Colours

Peaceful palette of dusty earth-bound pigments, shaded cool of the palette, any can be transformed to metallic, pearliSed, softly illuminated tones.

A calm, radiance, hazy pastels, soft pastel and mineral tones.

Deep relaxation and optimism. Cool greys, crystal blue, oyster beige and limestone chalk.

A visual proof of cleanliness - pure and honest.

Shades of raw suede and clay - evoke primal past connection, dry, dusty pigments.

Also was a feature of earth-bound trend last year.

Translucent Pearl and opaline green - dazzling brilliance of technology and natural world in which we live.

Shaded cool of the palette - subdued blue, smoke brown brings soothing and gentle depth.

Any can be tinted, metallic, pearlised sheens, transparencies, flat opaques, softy illuminated tones.

Patterns

Visual surface texture, flat patterns, smooth to the touch but give impression of being textural. We experience texture with our eyes as much as our hands. Comforting touch experiences.

Home environments are more considerate to our senses, incorporate fragrance into textiles as aromatherapy and nostalgia therapy.

Materials with sound absorbent properties, noise dampening. These were used in commercial practice, now to be incorporated into homes in a more beautiful, durable way.

Image Courtesy of Victoria Redshaw's Trend Forecasting Seminar for Decor + Design Show, Melbourne 2021