By Chris Tourgelis
As we move away from summer, it’s not just the weather that changes but our interiors too. Gone are the bright and warm homewares and in their place are bold metallics, dark shades and rich textures. Below OPUS’s Chris Tourgelis shares his eight top trends for the impending seasons.
1. Metallics
Still very strong and now getting a little darker in tone (moving away from bright copper). Dark gunmetal metallics and black metallic seem to be happening right now and copper is getting dirtier and darker in tone.
2. Rich organics
The whole marble aesthetic is not going away for now. Customers love raw marble mixed with very raw and rough timber homeware accessories. Some of our best-selling new items combine these two elements perfectly (like paddle cutting boards made of marble and timber).
3. Glass is not just glass
When you’re talking about homewares you simply can’t ignore glassware and vases. This season the look is more organic and less polished, almost a little industrial. This goes back in with the rich organics trend mentioned above. In some cases glassware is also being combined with those dirty metallics in applications like ornate jars.
4. Colours
Dusty pink, navy, emerald green and metallics are very strong right now. These tones are evident right across the homewares industry, from accent pieces to furniture and right throughout soft furnishings.
5. Rich textiles
Lots of velvet, organic looking (imperfect) rich woollen rugs and cushions and lots of Moroccan-inspired pieces dominated this year’s trade shows.
6. Natural furniture
Marble tables combined with rough timber is a very popular look. Rattan furniture is still very ‘in’ and the trend here is thick cut bamboo (lightly stained) with lots of lovely geometric forms.
7. Kids stuff
Educational toys that are also environmentally friendly steal the show. Parents are now looking for durable and less disposable toys that are also ‘green’ and are a bit more upmarket.
8. Green kitchen
Gadgets are still big but there is a big shift towards healthy eating and more natural ways of living. One of the big hits of last year was the vegetable ‘spiraliser’ which makes vegetable pasta. Customers are also really into healthy ways to store food and beautiful ways to hold household waste (Joseph and Joseph are leading the way in this category). We now sell waste bins that are just under $500. There was simply no call for this sort of thing three or five years ago!
All the products pictured are available at OPUS.
— Chris Tourgelis is the managing director and gift guru at OPUS, Australia’s longest running gift and homeware store in Sydney’s Paddington.
