Fun, pep, extravagance and maximum good humor. It is the entire lexical field of joy of living supported by the rainbow of the Pantone color chart – obviously tinged with eco-responsibility – which will be invited into our interiors over the coming months. The first weapon of mass seduction that is making a comeback: color. Long live. Farting. Adding shine, vitality and energy to our living spaces. “The 2024 atmospheres will be more funky with pop and tangy tones, confirm Barbara Sellam and Laura Tordjmane, interior designers founders of the Sell/Man Architecture agency. To highlight and spice up the whole, the print and stripes will be very present. Concerning the shapes, they are meant to be round and warm.” Shades like emerald green, bright coral and cobalt blue will particularly stand out to strike the eye from the first step taken in a bedroom or living room.
Why this need to bring color back into our lives? Because (or thanks) to Covid-19! After three years of pandemic, its shock wave is still felt both in the country’s economy and in the inspirations of the best artists or creators and in the aspirations of everyone. “This period was very trying and each of us suddenly realized the importance of having an interior that resembles us and that brings us together,” continue the two young women. Before specifying: “Stylists, decorators and architects have not fundamentally changed the way they work, but we have had to adapt to the stronger and more precise expectations of clients.” This great need for colorful pigments will be accompanied, on the furniture side, “by round and comforting shapes and maximalist interiors. Probably to move away from the gloom of Covid and give way to a joyful renewal.”
This explosion of colors is logically supported by a great chaos of audacity and letting go. After having long decreed that keeping a low profile was the best way not to make a mistake and drawing on Scandinavian minimalism, decoration professionals no longer swear by extravagance. “Our interiors are enriched with numerous shades long put aside but also with material effects which offer singularity, add Barbara Sellam and Laura Tordjmane. It is for example the resurrection of baroque and rococo in the pattern and the “ornament. Recently, we have offered it a lot in the hotels that we were responsible for renovating, in particular with the creation of custom-made staff (plaster) cornices.” And no one hesitates anymore to mix raw and mineral materials like stone and wood, which are also making a comeback. “Because they carry within them an unrivaled nobility and authenticity,” says designer Raphaël Navot. “We have a vital and urgent need for organics and nature in our lives, just like being surrounded by furniture steeped in history.” The emphasis is therefore placed on unique and artisanal pieces, even handmade in a vintage spirit. No wonder flea markets and garage sales are full.
The year 2024 will be characterized by a 180-degree turn with an assumed accumulation of genres and styles. A playful and creative decoration like that of the Italian publisher Seletti in a non-conformist universe which wonderfully combines functional design and purely decorative objects. Touches of chrome, a favorite material of Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier. Patterns in all directions, deliberately regressive (fruits, flowers) as we spotted at the What’s New? imagined by Elizabeth Leriche during the last Salon Maison et Objet. Objects, protean sofas and round, comforting armchairs, like at Ethnicraft. Without forgetting the rug, the accessory of the year “which can rock a classic composition and make it trendy, assure Barbara Sellam and Laura Tordjmane. It also helps to delimit spaces and is available endlessly”. All sprinkling a flamboyant chromatic maximalism. And from absolutely all designers (or almost), the same advice: open up to furniture with unusual or fun shapes, that is to say to the eccentricity which gives soul to an interior. The big movement is precisely… not to follow any of them, as the specialist site Drawer suggests: “Adopt some of these trends if you feel like it, but above all opt for decoration that reflects your personality To do this, do not be afraid to take action by making do it yourself. Use your creativity!”
The eternal question remains: where and how to start, knowing that we will never succeed in achieving the visual result as seen in these beautiful magazines with perfect aesthetics nor in modifying the entirety of our decor each season? By pulling out all the stops as soon as you take the first step into the house. “We must concentrate on this centerpiece which is the entrance with the acquisition of a new piece of furniture, a console or a bench or chaise longue such as Toi et Moi,” conclude Barbara Sellam and Laura Tordjmane. Then in the living room change the curtains, the carpet and the cushions which can revitalize the space.” For an interior with delightful creativity.