Predictions for future trends can be useful when, for example, they tell us about user behaviour. Oscar Niemeyer said that we have the task “to create today the past of tomorrow”.2 But the danger is that we design today for the world of tomorrow, and then when it is built – it is from yesterday. this is a further reason why it can be useful to look ahead from the present day.
Interior design is about much more than “prettifying” spaces, as the cradle-to-cradle visionary Michael Braungart has provocatively termed the work of designers.
Interior design is a reflection of the era
Lifestyle is a phenomenon that has always existed and the desire to portray it did not first emerge in the modern age. Interiors communicate the lifestyle of the inhabitant to the rest of the world; they project emotions into space and stimulate motivations and desires. Authentic interiors that are an appropriate expression of our time and reflect the age we live in, differ from those of the past. Authenticity is here the key: authentic spaces communicate credibility, while artificial pretensions (as seen, for example, in the field of the so-called “creative office”) reveal themselves as such in stylistic uncertainty and confusion. Interior design is for people, and designers need to be aware of essential human needs and how to cater to them.
The popularity of psychoanalysis in the post-war period is manifested, for example, in the name given to the Womb Chair designed for Knoll. Scandinavian design and its formal language are still very much in demand. Many current chair designs look like copies of moulded chairs from past decades. Designs from 50 years ago are still felt to be modern today. The same goes for architecture and the so-called Bauhaus style, which has been around for almost a hundred years. Clearly something is wrong here.
The popularity of psychoanalysis in the post-war period is manifested, for example, in the name given to the Womb Chair designed for Knoll. Scandinavian design and its formal language are still very much in demand. Many current chair designs look like copies of moulded chairs from past decades. Designs from 50 years ago are still felt to be modern today. The same goes for architecture and the so-called Bauhaus style, which has been around for almost a hundred years. Clearly something is wrong here.
The popularity of psychoanalysis in the post-war period is manifested, for example, in the name given to the Womb Chair designed for Knoll. Scandinavian design and its formal language are still very much in demand. Many current chair designs look like copies of moulded chairs from past decades. Designs from 50 years ago are still felt to be modern today. The same goes for architecture and the so-called Bauhaus style, which has been around for almost a hundred years. Clearly something is wrong here.
Progressive design requires a suitably enlightened client who is willing and courageous enough to be responsible for putting forward-looking designs into practice. Successful projects are ultimately the product of a collaboration between interior designer and client. The better the combination, and the chemistry between them, the better the end result. A prominent example of one such successful collaboration is the work of the designer Philippe Starck and the hotelier Ian Schrager, who, over an extended period, jointly realised a series of innovative and pioneering hotel concepts.
The use of smart technologies and materials is an expression of our time. The machine age has passed, the mass consumption and mass production of serially prefabricated parts has become normality, and we are now heading for new shores. While we are only beginning to make use of smarter and cleverer materials, the first steps have already been taken. A part of this is the integration of new and old building fabric, especially in Europe. Interior design today, as well as in the past, has always rejected standard formulas in favour of specific, tailor-made solutions. New buildings and the design of their interiors are, by contrast, able to accommodate progressive concepts from the very beginning. Ignoring this in the early concept phases represents a missed opportunity. Visionary architecture needs equally visionary interior design that does not simply adhere to tried-and-tested principles, but continues to develop and to push forward the boundaries