The Cologne furnishing fair imm cologne 2009 (19 to 25 January 2009) reflects the furnishing trends of tomorrow. It isn’t just furniture and interior design concepts that tell of a change in our everyday life, the structures of our homes do too.
“Trends are like waves in the ocean…they advance slowly and retreat slowly, and move on a different level as they do so,” says Eero Koivisto, the Swedish architect and designer who is analysing the future style developments in interior design as a Trendboard member on behalf of koelnmesse. The simile is all the more fitting as many trends return after a period of time in a slightly different form – after all, waves too are nothing more than new forms of one substance that is in constant flux.
So to continue the metaphor, we’ve been swimming along on a broad current of sea water for some time, which is as powerful and warm as the Gulf Stream, and which is called “homing”. Homes have become the focus of life, and are increasingly becoming places where the public and private mix.
As the outside world becomes more integrated into homes, the homing trend, which usually provides us with a cosy atmosphere and which has made consumers more generous with regards to the furnishing industry for the last few years, is demanding smooth, prestigious surfaces once again. The parlour has become the salon, a place to gather with friends for the evening and for cooking, but it has also become the home office and a witness to all those hours of overtime.
So there’s a growing need for practicable home office solutions. New concepts in the form of attractive desk modules, modern bureaus and other ideas for making dining tables and sideboards suitable for computers can be expected at imm cologne. The requirements are as different as the range of development options. On the one hand, since the number of households without children is on the increase, more and more spaces are being labelled as offices in architects’ plans. On the other hand, anyone who has a large family but no space for a desk in their lounge, has to make do with a corner in the bedroom.
Flexibility and creativity are called for. Our habits are not the only things that are changing – the structure of our homes is also altering gradually and turning them into “public life bases and private care bases”.
Living areas, in which communication and contact with the outside world take place, already have an almost semi-public character. They are increasingly conceived as a unit and more clearly segregated from the private part of the home, which serves for intimate moments and the ever more important process of regeneration. Areas of transition between the lounge and kitchen, between the hallway and living area are fluid, spaces are generous. Kitchens are in general increasing in status and are seen as an extension of the lounge in both new and renovated old buildings.
The various rooms making up private living areas are also growing closer together: Bedrooms and bathrooms are more intimately connected, or even fully integrated into one another, with children and guests receiving a separate shower room whenever possible. Bathrooms are developing into real rooms, which, when there is enough space, are seen as pleasant surroundings and are designed and equipped accordingly: with lots of wood, warm plaster or wallpaper instead of cold tiles, multi-faceted furnishings…and maybe even with a separate toilet.
Rooms functioning as pathways – so above all corridors – or as storage areas are, on the contrary, gradually losing their right to exist. Space is costly. The luxury of a walk-in wardrobe is now more of a trendy status symbol than the old broom cupboard. The outdoor area – be it a garden, garden terrace or just a balcony – is seen as an integral part of the home, which should be designed and furnished just as much as the interior should be.
By preference, guests are positioned at the dining table in the living area. Sofas remain, but seating areas are primarily oriented towards the TV screen. Lounges are increasingly turning into cinemas. Multi-channel sound systems, projector systems or large screens and digital devices are now housed in furniture and walls. Here, the trend for the fusion of furniture and technical equipment such as displays, remote controls and lighting is evident, not to mention the technical features of a modern kitchen.
However, all the splendour vanishes behind smooth fronts, folds away or is integrated in another way, as smooth surfaces are given preference over the displaying of decorative ornaments. Clean cover, the art of hiding, is an expression of our desire for order and perfectionism. It gives us the sense of having everything under control and of only displaying what we want identified with our image. Only select objects are revealed, colours tend to be reserved, with white, cream and grey dominating.
Furniture made of solid wood or with fronts made up of paint and frosted glass nestles up against light walls. Whenever strong colours like red are chosen, a monochrome, tonal and vibrant atmosphere is called for to guarantee a harmonious ambiance. And for the little ones too, more and more furniture ideas involving clever details are available on the market. The manufacturers of children’s furniture are proving astonishingly creative with modern design courage and optimism.
Technology is our constant companion, even when it is not obvious. As an easy-to-use surface with as few buttons as possible, it makes our lives easier with the click of a button. It has become a friend that is designed to solve our problems, in particular our environmental ones. A high-tech chair made of plastic can be just as “green” – as ecologically produced – as stools made of recycled paper or solid wood. Nevertheless, solid wood furniture in particular is seeing increasing sales thanks to the trend for green design. A whole hall has been assigned to it at imm cologne.
But it’s not just nature and technology, science and alternative concepts too are no longer seen as contradictions. A new form of spirituality is conquering our living and sleeping areas with unusual forms. Tables with birds’ legs and furniture constructed using a crystalline or honeycomb structure bring a little bit of nature into the home, whilst beds with pyramid canopies ensure a good night’s sleep. Esotericism, feng shui and vasati, the Indian teaching about spatial quality, combine with ingenious slatted frame systems, computer-controlled construction techniques and odourless gel for wood-free fires to create an all-round wellbeing concept for a modern, ecologically sound home.
26. December 2008
Categories: Design concepts, Trends
Tags: bathrooms, bedrooms, children's furniture, clean cover, Design concepts, Eero Koivisto, esotericism, feng shui, furnishing trends, green design, home office, homing, solid wood, spirituality, technology, trend, Trend Board, vasati, walk-in wardrobe
