From gold metallic finishes to idiosyncratic vases, here are the key spring interior design trends of 2023
Despite a sluggish start to spring 2023, the new season’s trends are coming into sharp focus – or should that be soft focus? Unbridled romanticism is in the air – appropriately, as spring flowers bloom. Designers are reviving embroidery and appliqué, dreaming up floridly floral motifs or rediscovering the charm of rumpled, rustic linens. Yet we aren’t all fantasising about retreating to Provençal farmhouses: flamboyant, theatrical elements are also in vogue, be these walls drenched in gold paint or idiosyncratic vases. We pinpoint five key interiors trends poised to usher in the spring…
Embroidery
Embroidery is making a surprising comeback – owing to its romantic charm or as a vehicle for making witty or ironic statements. Perhaps this labour-intensive craft was revived in earnest during lockdowns to help kill time, though there’s a long-established tradition for it. Artists have revived embroidery to create imagery not normally associated with the medium, from feminist artist Judy Chicago to Italian conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti, famous for his embroidered world maps.
Today’s needle-wielding craftistas include Kate Loudoun Shand, Natasha Hulse and Lora Avedian. Loudoun Shand deploys the ancient crewel technique to create her ultra-pop 1970s-style Lips motif on linen. “I wanted to take a traditional method to create something modern using a simple motif,” she says.
The trend also reflects a hunger for history: “I look at embroidery from all periods, including Elizabethan and Victorian ones.” Her Pow! motif – reminiscent of explosions in pop artist Roy Lichtenstein’s paintings – is gleefully ironic. It’s inspired by surprisingly flamboyant prints concealed in the lining of otherwise sober, sedate mourning jackets widely worn after Queen Victoria began mourning Prince Albert’s death.
Avedian likes to counterbalance historical and contemporary influences, creating embroidered cushions with highly decorative, faux-naïf blooms based on echinacea flowers grown in her garden. And Hulse will showcase her elaborately embroidered and appliquéd headboards at the exhibition Future Icons Selects, during London Craft Week (May 11–14).
Rumpled linens
Equally romantic is a current trend for monochrome linens with a raw, rumpled look. Again, these evoke rustic interiors yet, being plain, work well in more minimalist spaces and are relatively low-maintenance. These also seem to channel a warm Mediterranean vibe, available as they are in myriad earthy tones, from saffron and olive to classic ecru. This spring, interior and furniture designer Rose Uniacke has introduced an additional 35 new fabrics to her fabric collection; these include crunchier hemp designs whose colours – including “Pear” and “Fennel” – chime with the current craze for natural textures and tones.
A similar spirit pervades the tactile textiles of East London Cloth that designs and manufactures pillowcases, tablecloths and napkins. As with the embroidery trend, a hands-on approach lies at the heart of this brand’s ethos: founder Gemma Moulton has a background in curtain-making and upholstery. Although the shop (by appointment only) is located in hip Hackney, east London, its romantic facade transports you to a Parisian or Provençal cafe, complete with linen curtains peeking through the windows.
There’s a crossover between the embroidery and linen trends. Embroiderer Cressida Jamieson has collaborated with East London Cloth, stitching names, monograms and texts on to tablecloths and napkins using cross-stitch in way that adds a personal dimension to this romantic mood.
Cork
One of the first materials to be recognised for its sustainable credentials in the past few decades has been fast-growing cork. Aside from its versatility – it’s used for champagne stoppers, cores of cricket balls and soles of Birkenstock sandals (in fact it’s so ubiquitous that it almost escapes our notice) – it’s renewable and biodegradable. It also promotes wellness since it’s hypoallergenic, antimicrobial and comfortable to walk on. Eco-conscious architects are increasingly adopting it as a material for floors and walls, thanks to its insulating and acoustic properties – and because it’s aesthetically pleasing.
Cork will have a strong presence at the upcoming Clerkenwell Design Week in central London (May 23–25). One exhibitor, Recork, will exhibit its Una flooring collection available in various tones, from blond to mahogany, made of cork sourced from managed forests in Portugal.
Cork is also being used to line walls, thanks to Leeds-based company, The Monkey Puzzle Tree, which has created Hit the North, a wallcovering emblazoned with an industrial landscape created by artist Dan Millward. “As well as being sound-absorbing and helping to keep rooms warm, cork looks extremely good in a variety of interiors, including mid-century, period and ultra-modern spaces,” opines Charlotte Raffo, founder and director of The Monkey Puzzle Tree.
Cork was also big in the 1970s, so the trend automatically has a retro appeal. Designer Matilda Goad, for example, has dreamt up her cork Obelisk lamp base and Urn vase, the latter in a Neoclassical style very probably inspired by the 1980s, an era fixated on Neoclassicism.
Gold
So much for current trends that address environmentalist concerns or revive ancient crafts and history; we also hanker after a bit of glamour and drama – not that glamour and old-world styles are contradictory. Indeed, Lee Broom has delved into history with his multi-allusive lighting collection, Divine Inspiration. “I’ve been inspired by Brutalist architecture and places of worship, such as cathedrals, temples, and churches from antiquity and mid-century periods to the present day,” avers Broom. “Many of these incorporate gold, from gold architectural detailing to captivating pieces of art. Two designs from the collection, called Vesper and Hail, are available in a brushed gold finish that is popular with our customers as it feels timeless yet contemporary.”
Paint manufacturer Mylands, meanwhile, has a lustrous gold hue that is proving highly covetable. While potentially oppressive, gold walls appeal for being neutral, says the company’s CEO, Dominic Myland: “The popularity of our gold paint stems from how it behaves – almost like a neutral, bringing different colours together with a soft, welcoming glow.” It’s possible to achieve the look more subtly, however, with such accessories as Elizabeth Garouste’s Ninon mirror, available from Ralph Pucci International, and Jo Davies’ vases with gold accents, which she will showcase at the Future Icons Select exhibition during London Craft Week.
Idiosyncratic vases
In fact, the apparently humble vase is enjoying a moment: flick through interiors glossies right now and one thing repeatedly hoves into view: the attention-grabbing, sculptural vase. These chime with the current obsession with house plants and flowers as people’s interest in biophilia gathers pace. But they also provide a decorative or characterful focal point. Archyvio, a brand based in Switzerland, co-founded by Lilya Turki and Antonio Fazio, stocks a wondrous array of eccentric yet elegant hand-crafted vases (pictured at article head) hailing from many periods.
For this duo, the quirky vase trend stems from people’s desire to push back against homogenous high-street homeware in pursuit of more original objects: “More people are seeking to confront the uniformity of taste and style imposed by the mass market and social networks. By surrounding themselves with particular and unique objects, with a history, they assume a more personal, less standardised style.”
Other vases that make a similar impact include the Nuage Abstrait vase, now available as a limited-edition design with a new iridescent finish, co-designed by celebrated French brothers Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec, from Vitra; and Edward Luke Hall’s ornate vases for Ginori (these tick the Neoclassical trend box, too). Finally, Emma Louse Payne’s vases, soon to be sold at London shop Browns, have a playful, sculptural quality, making them as eye-catching as the blooms they cradle. “In our increasingly digital world, people crave the unique, handmade and tactile,” she says. “An unusual vase gives people ownership and curation of their style through a statement piece.”
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