Guest blog by solebich
Airy-light textiles, canopies held up on canes, overgrown jungle plants and atmospheric flickering storm lanterns. The latest interior trends will make this a long summer full of holiday feeling. Kati Tiringer, editor of the magazine solebich.de, the biggest German-language online lifestyle community, took a day out to look round Ambiente and find the loveliest new things for sunnier seasons.
It’s a cold, windy Friday in February when I visit Messe Frankfurt. Winter is dragging its heels, which just makes me more determined to catch a welcome glimpse of the interior trends for spring and summer. How will we decorate and stage the sunnier seasons?
A natural look: recycled wood, rattan, raffia and bamboo
When I look at the new collections, I see natural wood at every turn. Smaller home accessories are arranged on tables, benches and stools made from recycled wood, and at the centre of many presentations are rattan chairs, armchairs and recliners, as well as bamboo-framed daybeds. I find myself drawn to stroke the canework and soft wood – the natural grain and shape invite a tactile experience. They lend the new furniture and accessories a great, unique character.
The season’s trend pieces will certainly include a stool made from reclaimed wood. This wonderful, individual piece breaks up otherwise linear interiors. The Scandinavian home style trend continues, taking us towards this year’s cosy wooden furniture and accessories.
The boho chic trend is also undergoing a revival, with new rattan and bamboo furniture. Patterned ethnic textiles, storm lanterns and raffia baskets create interior worlds you might expect to find on a Southern beach.
Urban jungle trend: indoor gardens for natural wellbeing
The house plants I see sprouting everywhere go very nicely with the new boho revival. Large-leaved jungle plants like Monstera deliciosa (the Swiss cheese plant), beautiful collections of cacti in ceramic pot holders, and grow-your-own herbs in the kitchen make for lovely indoor gardens.
I love the used-look clay tones, and the idea of arranging giant house plants inside raffia baskets sporting a variety of natural shades. Other discoveries in the urban jungle include raised boxes for house plants, made of cast iron or matt painted metal; they remind me of raised beds in the garden. Hanging gardens also remain on-trend, for example in hanging baskets or cascading from plate racks.
Handmade trend: macramé and ceramics
My favourite décor trend at Ambiente is the macramé rug used as a wall hanging. The different patterns created by the knotting techniques are unobtrusive yet individual, with each piece looking handmade. This trend emerges in other interior items: for instance, in vases, dishes and crockery with straight lines and a functional design, but that appear to be hand-glazed or hand-painted. Tone-on-tone glazes in matt and gloss finishes look especially lovely, as do delicate floral patterns on crockery. Whether in earthy tones or a variety of the latest blue and pink shades, it doesn’t matter that no two items are the same. In fact, it just makes the whole arrangement more eyecatching!
Let’s set about collecting whatever takes our fancy in the coming months, to create our own oases of well-being. The new collections give us plenty of reasons to be cheerful while we look forward to a welcome breath of spring and summer air.
