Fabiana Vale Dornelas, Senior Interior Architect, YSA Design introduces interior design trends coming in 2025, and beyond. From Materia Natura to the rebooted segment sofa, here are all the trends she’s spotted at the year’s most cutting-edge design exhibitions and trade shows.
If fresh ideas on fixtures, fittings and furnishing from the wider design world offer guidance on future cruise ship interiors, sustainability, modularity and 1970s retro-stylings offer new sources of the inspirations to come.
This year’s Milan Design Week, Salone del Mobile and Cruise Ship Interiors Design Expo (CSI) offered up an abundance of eye-catching designs worthy of attention from leading cruise ship owners, whether their brand values prioritize modernity, sustainability or nostalgia – or all of the above. Today, designs need not only to be aesthetically pleasing but also environmentally conscious and adaptable to changing lifestyles.
Materia Natura
The link between design and Nature was the over-arching theme of the Milan Furniture Fair, with the ‘Materia Natura’ concept emphasising the way design ideas can drive change.
In a strong signifier of expectations, Salone del Mobile banned non-recyclable drywall materials from the installations making up the exhibition itself. The move was certainly on trend with exhibitors, where sustainable attractions included several examples of furniture constructed of recycled paper pulp.
Among the stand outs were established furniture brands, which included refashioned legacy designs using eco-friendly materials. Arper, for example, reissued Lievore Altherr Molina’s Catifa 53 upright chair – originally debuted in 2001 – this time constructed using a ‘PaperShell’ of composite wood byproducts. Using natural resin to bond 29 curved layers together, the material can be reduced to biochar at the end of its life. This is a form of charcoal which retains CO2 sequestered during the material’s previous life phases.
“While one material alone cannot save the world, our partnership with Arper will hopefully open doors to new possibilities and inspire other companies to explore sustainable solutions,” said PaperShell CEO Anders Breitholtz, in a joint interview with Arper CEO Roberto Monti.
Proprietary Materials
At CSI, Carnegie displayed its own legacy proprietary material, Xorel, which it recently repurposed into a wall-covering range. First developed 40 years ago, the yarn is Cradle to Cradle Silver Certified, and now also IMO Certified as part of Xorel Cruise. Speaking to Cruise and Ferry, Carnegie Chief Creative Officer Heather Bush said, ‘We’ve been working towards IMO certification for years because we knew it would be a perfect fit for passenger ship designers looking for a textile with a blend of style, performance and sustainability.’
A special mention is also warranted for Palecek, whose inspiration in natural materials and traditional artisan techniques infused the furniture, lighting, accessories and ambience it brought to CSI.
Modularity
Contemporary design is also focusing on modularity. The flexibility to reconfigure furniture for multiple uses is increasingly desirable. One of the effects of Covid was to create more appetite for versatility in interior spaces, where furniture could be moved or adapted without having to rearrange everything.
Attention grabbers in Milan this year included ‘Collina’ couch designs from de Sede, where backrests are adjustable by location, height, position, and form. Similarly, Pedrali ‘Buddy Oasi’ couches feature weighted pillows with non-slip fabric bottoms that are freely movable as backrests, or headrests for sleeping. Pedrali has also presented an outdoor version of its ‘Buddy’, which stays true to the original design but features removable waterproof fabric.
Retro themes are always seductive, and modular thinking is also being applied as part of this year’s revisit to furniture styles from the 1970s. Although, the resulting ‘overstuffed’ shapes are also very much created using 21st century bio-foams.
Fifty years on, makers are re-imagining the decade’s arresting colours, spongey roundness and plush comfort with an element of restraint, while also adding the flexibility to change shape to accommodate modern modular design needs. Expansive, multifunctional sofas were out in force at Salone del Mobile, incorporating drinks tables, upholstered logs, detachable ottomans and ‘nested’ features. Sometimes maligned but now rebooted, the segmented sofa is back!
Maximalism
This is not to say that the minimalist design ideas of recent years are in retreat. However, even here, there appears to be room for a retro spin on clean lines and uncluttered spaces. Stainless steel – that 1970s revelation of kitchen sink durability – is once more described in terms of its sleek appearance as a material for use throughout the domestic kitchen.
Brands at CSI made a case for maximalism entering the hospitality interiors design space. The bold, attention-grabbing style has been noted in recent cutting-edge boutique hotel and lounge launches. From romantic, baroque furnishings to pleasingly clashing patterns, maximalist design could offer a counterpart to the restrained modernity of contemporary cruise ship interiors. Radici Marine, the custom carpet producer, demonstrated the full range of its design capabilities with a booth design that presented curated clashing textiles.
Furthermore, in the context of cruise ship interiors, metal was everywhere at Salone del Mobile 2024, with steel featuring on everything from chairs to lighting and open shelving. Designs that turned heads in Milan included the furniture and lighting using stainless steel and aluminium from Kotaro Usugami, for example.
Inexpensive, recyclable, and accessible, durable metals may be a Materia Natura ticking boxes that others struggle to cover.
Image credit: HOMMÉS Studio
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