Decorex International 2019: Investigating Luxury Interiors
Hot on the heels of my recent trip to the 100% Design event in London, I headed back down south to visit Decorex, Europe’s leading exhibition event for interior design professionals, to soak up some more design inspo and take a peek into the future of interiors.
The exhibitors at Decorex are best in class when it comes to luxury furniture, fabric, lighting, art and accessories and their products and designs give us some insight into what we can expect to see from new high-end commercial, residential and retail spaces. These concepts will trickle down to our most loved high street and online retailers, inform our buying patterns for the months ahead and shape the look of our homes…
I always love seeing what’s new at Blackpop. A luxury label specialising in artisan wallpapers, fabrics and soft furnishes – they’re all about glorious pattern and colour. Their 2020 collection is no different and certainly didn’t disappoint. Their Japanese style ‘Paradise’ fabric was a particular highlight, which depicts stunning tropical birds in a bold punchy colour palette set against a neutral backdrop. It looked fabulous as a cushion, finished with a blue tassel trim and sat on a velvet print chair with bright orange legs and arms.
And then there’s Bert Frank lighting, which makes me very happy indeed. They always have the most distinctive, ornate stands. This year the unit was wrapped in an elegant, rich, navy blue velvet and radiated serious 1970’s carpet vibes.
A stand that I kept returning to (and taking copious amounts of pictures of) was Curiousa & Curiousa. Their main range of lighting consists of colourful, hand-blown glass that can look very modern or traditional depending on the space it occupies. What caught my eye this year is the ‘Ume’ handmade silk lanterns, made of translucent Dupion silk in the most delicate pastel palettes with painterly floral designs.
My favourite piece at Ginger & Jagger was the Meridiano Bar Cabinet, with its mesmerising asymmetric doors. The piece exhibited at the show was in an American Walnut finish, but buyers can choose between ebony, Amara Ebony and Olive Ash. You can also customise the colour of the interior drawers to any RAL colour, adding a pop of vibrancy upon opening and closing them.
Meridiano Bar Cabinet at Ginger & Jagger
This year was the first time I’ve come across Glass Design, an Italian company based in Tuscany. Offering a selection of high-fashion bathroom items, they had the most elegant and glamorous washbasins I’ve ever seen. This terribly chic black glass sink made my heart stop!
Incredible shell shaped black glass sink at Glass Design
The Bonavita rug by Suzanne Sharp on display at The Rug Company was also a site to behold, surrounded by her inspiring new range in collaboration with fashion designer Mary Katrantzou. Instead of her bold floral prints adorning the silhouette of the female, they were laid out in their purest form in large format rugs, where the intricacy and vibrancy of her designs could really be appreciated.
Kit Miles always has my vote when it comes to bold, bright, in-your-face geometric patterns, typically displayed on wallpaper and beautiful velvets. This Corinthian Check is designed to bring a large architectural scale to the walls of your interior through bright, playful colours and dynamic shapes.
This year’s Design Encounter at Decorex is an immersive walkthrough of imaginative rooms by six designers within a residential property and is a beautiful example of spatial storytelling.
Anna Burles, co-founder of Run For The Hills explains that the design concept for ‘Into the Wild’ was about creating a space for ‘a super stylish 5 year old eco warrior, an edgy and cool, fashion-forward mini person’s space, with lashings of creativity and originality’ and I couldn’t agree more. I’d love to think that I was this stylish at 5! With the princess and the pea style layered mattresses in various fabrics and colours, balloons, wall panelling with palm prints and a scheme of warm and rustic cosy textures, this space gets the imagination flowing for us adults too, with a strong moral behind it.
Run For The Hills’ Creative Director and co-founder, Anna Burles, says “They say it is the young, eco-crisis generation who will save the planet, pointing the finger at us and telling us to wake up and join their rebellion. We want to bring that story of hope to life, woven through our room set via the eco-conscious brands we have collaborated with and custom design details like our bespoke T-shirt designs on the clothes rail and a curated selection of kid’s books including The Tantrum That Saved The Earth and Rules For Living on Planet Earth. “ - information taken from the Run For the Hills website.
Anna Burles’ design concept for ‘Into the Wild’
Rose Murray of These White Walls takes a blank canvas approach to creativity. She explains that her room is inspired by traditional drawing rooms. Subverting traditions and expectations in every way, ‘The Withdrawing Room’ is designed to inspire us to switch off technology and let our imaginations flow in a free space. It reminded me of a scene from a Tim Burton film or a Tim Walker fashion shoot, completely magical and ethereal.
Rose Murray’s interpretation for ‘The Withdrawing Room’
The highlight of the show was the William Morris & Co stand where visitors were invited to take part in creating their very own piece of wallpaper using a vintage stencil and print press. It was a very wholesome experience to be involved in a process that is so established and traditional. Although in essence we were all creating the same pattern, it was a satisfying and meditative experience that reminded me how much I love to create, and how physically doing and making things with our hands is becoming ever more outdated, forgotten and replaced by technology. Real food for thought to end a magical day.
