Reflecting a post-pandemic lifestyle renaissance, prestigious brands are exploring themes, motifs and fabric from past and future while establishing a new equilibrium between innovations, heritage and sustainability.
By: Tripti Jangpangi
Posted on: February 20, 2023
Cushions from Christian Lacroix's 'Lacroix Stravaganza' collection.
The interior design and decor world is witnessing a classical shift from aristocratic luxurious fabrics, motifs and themes to more meaningful expressions between nature and human, hence setting a robust theme for upcoming years in luxury lifestyle. Moving past simple, mindless minimalism, the recently held Paris Deco Off 2023 showed us that design is becoming an even more integral part of our lifestyle, our consciousness, and ultimately, our personalities.
To decode it, three golden rules are being followed: the first being creative collaboration; second, being connected to nature; and third, reviving the genius of the past with a new perspective. As the pandemic bought us more in tune with ourselves, we talk about three brands that have empathized with the needs and desires of today’s home creators, and fashioned some beautiful products.
French design house accords baroque with surrealism
'Jaipur Stripe' from Christian Lacroix's 'Lacroix Stravaganza' collection.
Creative Director of Maison Lacroix, Sacha Walckhoff, unveiled “Lacroix Stravaganza“, in collaboration with prestigious designers and manufacturers. The collection is an homage to southern cultures and landscapes. The exhibition begins with Inhotim Park where giant leaves are set upon shimmering silk ribbon trunks accompanied by Belorizonte velvet, satin and wallpaper inspired by an Amazonian Park in Brazil. The duo of Guatiza and Lanzarote gardens transport you to a desert embellished with cactuses and cannibalistic flowers blooming in the middle of a desert.
The 'Amytis' throw from Christian Lacroix's 'Lacroix Stravaganza' collection.
Christian Lacroix was traditionally known for its iconic colorful and baroque world. This time, the house of Lacroix embraced surrealism in many forms through extravagant kaleidoscopes of colors, shapes and rich materials, invoking a wide range of stories from the past and the future, in the form of rugs, drapes, wallpapers, tableware and furniture. Other interesting pieces from the collection are “Novafrica Sunrise and Novafrica Sunset” panels, which depict an imaginary, spatial and baroque Africa, while Vallarta is composed of poppies and yellow cosmo flowers on a cotton fabric and a wallpaper. It’s a fantastical world at Maison Lacroix!
British craftsmanship presents an Italian design masterpiece
Cole & Son X Fornasetti's 'Frutto e Geometrico' wallpaper. Photo © Yvan Moreau.
Wallpaper designer Cole & Son, collaborated with Fornasetti, the Italian design house known for their iconic, quirky motifs, to create a collection of wallpapers that embodies the spirit of this trailblazing brand by Piero Fornasetti. Who can forget the red iconic lips, huh?
Fornasetti’s eclectic ‘Geometrico’ motif can be easily spotted on ‘Frutta e Geometrico’ where the rigorous geometry on the base and the organic shapes of different fruits creating hypnotic effect. My personal pick would be “Vista Mediterranean” wallpaper, inspired by “Gerusalemme” by Piero Fornasetti, where multiple points of view overlap with different architectural styles with a bright cerulean sky that turns deep tanzanite as the scene shifts from day to night.
Cole & Son X Fornasetti's 'Soli' wallpaper. Photo © Yvan Moreau.
The Ortensia print by Barnaba Fornasetti is a glorious wallpaper with hydrangea petals with bees delicately hidden within this dense bouquet in different manners. ‘Soli’ or sun, is a recurring Fornasetti motif, charming one and all with its cherubic, bright face. In fact, in the early 1940s, at the request of Gio Ponti, Piero Fornasetti designed almanacs on a lunar theme to be given as Christmas gifts. The Soli wallpaper gives a repetitive space to this omnipresent celestial body. Its colour palettes range from a strikingly simple monochrome to a rich emerald green with radiant golden suns.
Cole & Son X Fornasetti's 'Vista Mediterranea' wallpaper. Photo © Yvan Moreau.
Where Fornasetti started in 1940s, Cole & Son has been creating original and exceptional wallcovering since 1875 and has provided wallpapers for many historic houses including Buckingham Palace and the House of Parliament.
Legendary painter’s work is materialized by an innovative design studio
Henri Matisse’s Les Mille et Une Nuits (1950) has been inspiring generations of designs now. This cut-and-pasted paper artwork is so vibrant and exuberant, that one cannot avoid getting drawn into its joy. The corals, leaves, hearts, all have been interpreted in multiple ways. Even Guerlain, the legendary fragrance maker, recently launched a limited-edition collection based on the painter’s palette.
For Paris Deco Off, French designer Guillaume Delvigne armed himself with recycled cork and Henri Matisse’s animated spirit to create a collection of trays, stools, pencil holders and shelves. Handcrafted in Portugal, the choice of cork allows both - an easy, thorough application of colour, and the use of an underused, sustainable material. Each piece is laser-cut and finished by hand. Cork has proven to be durable, rot-resistant, and free of chemical processes.
The collection, eponymic to the original artwork, not just borrows the colours, but also the playful shapes that are a part of it. The unassuming cut geometric shapes, almost missed out by the eyes due to the intensity of the colours, have been given an important position in Mr. Delvigne’s designs.
As the pandemic wears off (at least spiritually, though not medically), home makers are trying to replace minimalism with something of their personality in their environs. Maison Lacroix’s giraffe cushion may remind someone of their Africa sojourn; Fornasetti X Cole & Son’s Soli may take you to summer in a cold Chicago, and Maison Matisse’s tiny pencil stand – designed by Mr. Delvigne - may make you smile in the middle of that meeting. In any case, décor has become more about straddling character with functionality. And hopefully, it shall remain so.
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