Joyful design focuses on evoking specific emotions and feelings through a room’s interior layout, colours, materials, textures and finishes.
Expressive decor featuring colourful and abstract paintings are a key part of joyful design, so this trend invites lots of opportunities to get hands-on and personalise your furniture pieces with playful licks of paint. Use uplifting shades of warm oranges, pinks and yellows.
Consider more than just the visual things, too: Joyful design should speak to all the senses.Incorporate scents like calming lavender or energising lemon, as well as sounds or music that set a certain mood.
US searches for “bright yellow aesthetic” are up 6% YoY
#BrightColors have over 37 million views on TikTok, and #Colorblocking has 69 million
Abstract prints grew 75% YoY during S/S 22’s catwalk shows
WGSN highlights trends like ‘eccentric expression’ and ‘energetic brights’, as well as ‘Cluttercore’ – a comforting design concept that encourages decorating with meaningful items that enrich a space and make it feel more like home.
This trend takes the textures and forms found in nature and uses them as the inspiration behind design choices. Think mesmerising topographic maps, showing the elevations of the land.
Close-up views of tree rings, leaf fractals, and cracked marble. Or dry textures inspired by desert sands and rocks.
Some of the main ways nature’s contours are finding their place in 2023 interiors is through mineral-inspired marbleised design, curvy dinnerware, and stone texture accessories.
‘Abstract marble art’ is up 1,962% YoY on Etsy
#Travertine has more than 440k posts on Instagram and Architectural Digest recently declared it the new
must-have stone
Digital realism ties virtual design and real life together through use of colour, lighting and furniture. Ombre gradients are at the heart of the trend: Created by the shifting colours of hue-changing lights, and inspired by bright digital colour palettes.
Draw inspiration from the digital worlds of gaming, streaming, video content, and metaverse aesthetics. Contrast LED light strips and soft neon mood-lighting with dark rooms to create a surreal and immersive space.
Multiple smart bulbs allow for the mixing of cool and warm colours, turning a room into a tech haven that feels out of this world.
UK searches for ‘ombre’ have increased 13% on Pinterest since 2020. Global Google searches for ombre also continue to grow
IKEA launched its first gaming collection in 2021, and continues to promote products such as coloured LED strips as gamer essentials
WGSN’s colour of the year 2023 is Digital Lavender. They explain that, ‘Digital pastels and tranquil pales have a serene and restorative quality, while also blurring the boundaries between the real and the virtual.’
The new kitschy style is an evolution of retro revival trends from the past year, and falls under the umbrella of Newstalgia. This 2023 trend is a mix of vintage and retro that results in a nostalgic yet modern aesthetic.
It focuses particularly on joyful wiggles and up-to-date colour palettes.Take inspiration from chintz design, 70s decor, colourful velvet, bold patterns, ric rac sewing, eclectic furniture, colourful gingham, and lots of playful wavy lines.
Have fun and stay sustainable by repurposing old furniture and buying second-hand, too.
Curvy, liquid-look aesthetics are trending with younger generations, with Tiktok searches like #wavymirror hitting 15.2 million views. Plus, wavy patterns are up 11.8% according to WGSN’s social media and fashion data
Apartment Therapyʼs home trend survey reveals that 20% of designers called the 1970s the ʻnext bigʼ decade for inspiration, second only to the future (23%)
#grandmillenial has over 196k posts on Instagram, and 26.4 million views on Tiktok
This continuation of minimalism is all about warm tones and ‘barely there’ patterns. The trend ties in well with feng shui, and mainly incorporates neutral colours, calming shapes and tactile elements.
Our Art Director, Lauren Kavanagh, says:
“Traditional minimalism can feel cold or sterile at times, but this emergence of warm minimalism is something for people who want to feel cosy without the clutter.”
#NeutralHomeDecor has gained over 138 million views on Tiktok, showing how these colours have mass appeal across generations
WGSN notes that ‘Neutral hues are essential for S/S 23 and beyond, with rich browns and complex tans and beiges infusing a sense of stability and grounding to a wide range of home furnishings.’
Inspired by botanical studies, foliage and florals are the new romantic aesthetic in interiors.
Bring the outdoors indoors with whimsical hand-drawn botanicals, soft feminine design ideas, and delicate patterns with a paired back colour palette. Get creative using plants to create artwork, too, like cyanotype prints.
Feature dried grasses in vases, embroidered elements, sweet and simple colours, and plant or flower-themed wall decor to bring liveliness to flat surfaces.
Botanicals hold a 14.8% YoY growth according to WGSN’s 2022 social media data
Pinterest Predicts 2022 reveals that searches for ‘biophilic design bedroom’ are up 100% YoY, and interest in ‘biophilic architecture’ is up 150%
#naturecore on Tiktok has over 59 million views, and global Google searches for ‘natural interiors’ have showed YoY increases of 68% (Australia), 100% (UK) and 34% (US)
