Clerkenwell Design Week is among the most eagerly awaited events in the design calendar, and we were thrilled to be involved as Trend Sponsor for Design Insider this year.
The three day festival is an opportunity to explore emerging interior design trends that will gain traction over coming months and evolve into the core trends of the future. This puts visiting designers ahead of the curve when it comes to specifying to colour palettes and design concepts for projects that will reach completion further down the line.
The festival was alive with inspiration, innovation and creativity. Here are our highlights from the three days.
WELLNESS
The growing focus on wellness in the workplace was palpable across the showrooms and pop ups of Clerkenwell. Evolving design briefs tell us that the physical and emotional wellbeing of consumers are now paramount in creating workspace design schemes. Designers are creating spaces that are calming and comfortable, while also elevating user experience. Natural elements play a key role in this. Across the three day festival we saw this brought to life with soothing colour palettes, subtle woodgrain and material finishes, and biophilia.
In the true sense of the word, biophilic elements across the festival also included nature inspired design concepts as well as direct natural aspects such as plants, woods and stones. Kinnarps lead the way in this trend with their quirky tree and summer house inspired functional office furniture concepts.
The lighter woodgrain shades coming through in this trend are less characterful than we have seen in the past, often pairing a subtle linear finish with only slight tonal shifts than add depth in an understated way. It brings a new form of simplicity into interior design trends.
Senator demonstrated the trend in EGGER H1277 ST9 Light Lakeland Acacia desks and cabinetry paired with a palette of mixed natural greens.
AGILITY
Emerging trend patterns have a number of influencing factors. At the moment, we are seeing a prevalence of core pieces in quality materials that have a classic design and versatility to work with trend colours and materials. Think of it as a capsule wardrobe. The modular ‘mix and match’ style of furniture works well for this, providing flexibility and adaptability to workspace interiors.
Clerkenwell’s showrooms and pop ups were awash with innovative designs of modular and multi purpose furniture pieces that offer agility in design styles and function.
Flokk used a warm neutral palette to create their multifunctional design styles.
COLOUR
Design trends have evolved to put colour at the core. Where previously woodgrain and material finishes provided the foundations of a scheme with solid colour as the embellishment, this has changed over time. In this, we also see the development of colour into new hues and a shifting base palette, again bringing a new simplicity to interiors. Clerkenwell’s exhibition spaces and showrooms demonstrated this perfectly, combining currently emerging trend colours with new elements that will pave the way to future design concepts.
Natural beiges and warm whites
The new simplicity brings with it a disappearance of bright whites, replaced by softer and warmer tones. Loose furniture, modular components and upholsteries are trending towards shades of natural white, combined with warm neutral colours.
Throughout the Clerkenwell showrooms and pop ups, this trend could be seen with pops of nude apricots and earthy pastel tones.
The colour palette ties in with recent EGGER UK decor introductions, including U115 ST9 Carat Beige, U211 ST9 Almond Beige, and U727 ST9 Cubanit Grey. All are available via our UK Distribution network in 18mm Eurodekor MFC with matching edging for cabinets, shelving and desktops.
Soft yellows
While the natural beiges and apricot tones emerge as a current trend, Clerkenwell Design Week nodded towards the future with the inclusion of soft yellows. Predominantly seen in paint colours, upholstery and loose furniture such as office chairs, designs included a spectrum of pale, muted yellows to deep ochres and mustard hues.
We see this is a natural evolution from the soft, natural colours that have been growing for some time now.
Muted deep tones
With colour now at the centre of design schemes, soft pastel tones are increasingly paired with deep and rich hues from the same base palette, providing sharp and interesting contrasts.
This was displayed widely across Clerkenwell’s showroom and pop up spaces in shades of deep blue-greens and rich browns, as well as deep terracotta and red shades being the most dominant.
These shades have been steadily growing in popularity over recent months to become a core foundation of the colour palette seen across the festival.
The contrasting colour trends can be achieved in furniture pieces with new EGGER UK decor introductions. U335 ST9 Rusty Red and U699 ST9 Fir Green provide the perfect bold pairing for paler combination colours like U211 ST9 Almond Beige and U604 ST9 Reed Green.
Mulberry shades
The exciting array of designs on show across the three day event again gave us a nod towards future design styles with hints of deep mulberry tones.
Sitting on the warmer side of classic purples and aubergines, the underpinning red base of these shades sits them in the natural evolution of the deep red and blue palette seen above.
OPULENCE
The rise of opulent elements in design, such as elegant woodgrains, classic marbles or velvet matt finishes, was displayed in a variety of forms throughout Clerkenwell Design Week. This trend supports the shift towards the ‘hotelification’ of interiors outside of the hospitality sector, where designs are increasingly creating luxurious, hotel-like spaces that offer a high end look and user-first experience.
"Clerkenwell Design Week provided the perfect balance of current core trends, and emerging elements set to become to the foundation of design styles in the future. We look forward to seeing these evolving trends come through in to the market and continuing to align our trend-inspired product offer to provide solutions."
Aimee Fletcher, Design Manager
Read more on these topics in Specified, by EGGER.
For samples of any of the EGGER finishes referenced in this report
