Holley attended both the Vegas Market (mainly residential design) and HDExpo (mainly hospitality design) in Las Vegas August 22 through 25, cramming in as much inspiration and trend-spotting as possible.
At Vegas Market, she attended two talks: First Look 2021 Onward and the Sherwin-Williams Colormix Forecast, “Mood.” Both of these talks touched on similar themes, including a move toward stronger color; the appeal of handmade, textural, organic items; reeding and fluting (hearkening back to both the 1970s and Art Deco eras); emphasis on home, coziness and overall wellness; geometric patterning in unexpected formats; iridescence and metallic colors; warm, deep-toned metal finishes; and the need for joy, happiness, and the comfort of nostalgia.
Gray is not going away as an ever-popular neutral, but it’s being joined by warmer neutrals and beiges. The pastel colors we’ve been seeing in the past years, are still a thing, but are becoming more saturated and electric.
At HDExpo, the trends talk was conceptual and experiential, as one would expect from the hospitality design segment. One panel with independent hoteliers hit on an important trend—catering to niche and underserved consumers with smaller, specialized lodgings, creating a much more inclusive society (while opening up markets to new consumers/dollars). The behavioral trends include a new interest in rail travel (but in your own, personal compartment); continuation of contactless service (QR codes, room keys in your phone, etc.); and outdoor dining. Unsurprisingly, the health and wellness emphasis is only growing and expanding, which also bleeds into emphasis on sustainability (since a healthy planet is also healthy for the people on it) and biophilic design.
In more artistic/design areas, the various panelists are seeing influence from cinema and set design in interior design; human-centered architecture that is inclusive of the design styles of underserved communities; incorporating the work of artists into projects in as many aspects as possible; maximalism with depth/consciousness; and incorporating the look of jewelry design into the built environment by playing with scale.
The world seems to be opening up again, and not just back to business-as-usual, but also to unexpected and neglected consumer segments. We are expanding our horizons and opening up to new opportunities.
