As well as the usual ‘physical’ side of trends, in my opinion, 2020-2021, more than previous years have given rise to what I’m calling ‘emotional’ trends. These are what I believe to be the common sentiments and attitudes of the public, in terms of how we’re approaching general life, working life and home life as a result of Covid-19.
2020 just may have cancelled the ‘trend’ as we know it and for many months to come, but as the very meaning of the word trend is ‘a general direction in which something is developing or changing’, I think there’s a whole new way of looking at the direction of things, in general.
Deeper into lockdown we go, and my mid-January birthday is on the horizon. All I want to do is eat comfort food, but I’m trying to impose a health kick on myself to boost my system post festive season richness. The daily walk is helping my sanity and I’m appreciating the air in my face, even if today’s was fuzzy rain.
I realised that reading really is one of my favourite pastimes. Not only is it soothing and luxurious, but so enriching; actually being able to gain knowledge, insight and inspiration all at the same time. Spending time surrounded by my books, hot drinks, snacks, a blanket and, in our case, a log fire bought to us by Now TV, really is my happy place, and for this reason I love to invest in beautiful books that will continue to bring me endless joy over the years.
As 2020 gave the word ‘bubbles’ a whole new meaning, many businesses are finding themselves back within the tight reigns of Tier 3 after the second lockdown came to an end. I’ve been thinking about the businesses that I’m so used to visiting and supporting each day when working from the office, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
This year has certainly been like no other, and a compromised Christmas is something we’ll all have to contend with when it comes to socialising and (the lack of) house hopping this year. But this same, minimal formula need not apply to your dining table, nor the joy in celebrating the festive season.
For a while now, I’ve wanted to create my own magazine pages, curating what I believe to be an important mix of items, and showing how my love for the fashion, colours and shapes that I’m drawn to has a direct influence on my home interior choices. And I think what we see on the catwalk, guides a lot of us when it come to interior design.
This year, Christmas might look a little different and yes, we’ll need to toast it on a much smaller scale, but it’s by no means cancelled.
Our physical environments have a huge impact on our mental health and wellbeing – which is why it’s so important, now more than ever, to cultivate home environments that support us to feel happy, comfortable and secure.
Velvet is my personal fabric of choice, and it’s currently everywhere. Donning cushions, curtains, upholstery, stationary, handbags and even jewellery, the fabric that was once the preference of grandmas UK wide, has now become a designers go-to texture.
So what do what the Dulux team have in store for us in 2021? A shade called ‘Brave Ground’; a warm neutral that connects us to our foundations. Creative Director Marianne Shillingford describes the colour as ‘the mother earth of colours’, a soothing, grounding colour that reconnects us with nature in a non obvious way, from the ground up.
Copious amounts of flowers require the need for multiple vases and vessels to display them in. I have an obsession with vases and I’m always on the hunt for shapes, colours and textures that are a bit different, so here it is! Your next instalment of Damn Cool!
Discuss: Why not create the ‘set’ of your liking by buying separates, instead of what the buyer has pulled together for you? We buy separates for our wardrobe all the time so why not apply the same thinking when buying for our home, after all, we’re ‘dressing’ it for ourselves! So let’s add our character and individuality.
With flexible working becoming more opportune, and in a lot of cases mandatory since the Covid outbreak, we’ve had to evaluate how and where we set up our work stations each day in order to concentrate, be comfortable and most importantly, able to disconnect from it all when ‘leaving work’. So where possible, it pays to have a designated area at home that’s set up specifically for work.
So, ‘Do You Like Good Music’? I have a print in my bedroom with these opening lyrics from the track Sweet Soul Music by Arthur Conley, and it got me thinking about the importance of music and how what we listen to influences our design aesthetic.
