Colour and Material Trend Highlights at the Salone del Mobile 2016

This year Milan Design Week crossed the unprecedented numbers of total attendees making it a grand success and a relentless platform to exhibit the world’s new concept of living, furnishing and designing. During the week, lot of unseen designs and innovations made their debut that caught the public attention. Among them, the latest colour and material trends were the most important ones that interest the design enthusiasts, architects, manufacturers and brands to imbibe them in their new designs for the coming year. These latest trends are pinpointed in our brand’s new collection at the fair.  

Colour Trends

Though a constellation of colours flared up at the fair, some of them were more prominent than others. Designers displayed the earth, fire and sky colours meaning green, yellow and blue as inspiration for home and furniture collections that were rich in colour, texture and nature-inspired patterns. The warm grey and pink were also trending, making their appearance in most of the novel designs.

Shades of blue appeared in many accents, surfaces, upholstery as an individual colour as well as with a vibrant combination of yellow and pink. The trending colour blue was seen in some of our brands like Fama, Leolux, NicolettiHome and Tonin Casa. Though it may appear that blue is the dominant colour, it was toned down with other colour combinations with coordination and varying widths. In contrast to the previous year, blue this year appears in upholstery and cabinets.

Yellow and its shades too surfaced in upholstery and accessories and were seen in brands like Leolux and Koinor. The stripes re-emerged last year, mainly in fabrics. This year stripes are onto product surfaces, carpets and of course upholstery. Various combinations can be seen with yellows or blues dominating.

Warm grey this year became a defining tone, a neutral colour that makes everything past and present crossover into classy-contemporary. From permanent surfaces like floor and walls to upholstery and wood finishes. It is a base palette of tones that works for all other accents. Shades of grey were seen in brands like Alf Italia, Bonaldo, Fama, Koinor, Natuzzi and Tonin Casa.

Deep red derived from marsala is a parallel tone, used independently among other accent colours. Bonaldo, Calligaris,  Koinor and NicolettiHome showcased some of  their new collection in deep red.

Pastels were seen in the most obvious brand Fama.

NicolettiHome this year had a theme ‘In a World of Colours’ under which the new collection expressed its fusion of colours.

In a nutshell, arriving at the colour trends for the year is the most challenging with multiple colours or a blend of colours appearing in most designs. However, warm grey, deep red, blue, yellow and green are pinpointed as the colour trends for the year.

Material trends

Wood is back in an unprecedented way. Oak with oil whites, walnut, high gloss and matte, lights and darks and reds, all colours are now part of the stream. Real wood, laminate foils, printed textures in variety of colours and finishes- indicate a shift to creative uses. Wood in different finishes is predominant in brands like Alf, Calligaris and ToninCasa.

Metals and marble. It's everywhere; on table tops of all kinds, small and large. High gloss metals are the cutting edge now. Metal surfaces can be found in table bases too for instance in Amond table by Bonaldo. Besides, tones remain neutral in the whites to Browns.

Marble has taken a centre stage, adding a hint of glamour in an exciting range of colours like peaches, blush pinks and inky black. Chiefly found in new collections by Bonaldo, Calligaris and Natuzzi.

The ceramic topped table is a design and production trend that's here to stay. Heat and scratch resistant being their highlight, they can be used for outdoor purposes too. Tonin Casa’s ceramic top dining table has a metallic sheen with a bent wood base, while Calligaris had a ceramic glass top round table with fluid mechanism which stands as a new trend for dining table materials. Super thin durable marble layer on glass top is also another trend in coffee tables.

The colourful stained glasses or the rainbow spectrum glass in wide range of colours were also a trend in cabinets, coffee tables.

Iridescent glass was also trending with designers experimenting with interesting colours giving the futuristic an elegant touch. 

Shapes and Pattern trends

Free expression returns to interior design. Old and new come together in unusual ways again. Bold choices in combinations, from floor to wall, and all that goes within furniture and accessories made a prominent mark. Art deco and art nouveau did not glimmer this year and were taken over by pure colours and patterns.

Geometric patterns get stronger, finding their way into all surfaces - fabrics, metal, laminates and wood. Tones of colour are mixed and strong. This bold trend will stay for a while, enabling a transition to a new way. One of our brands Bonaldo, held a strong outlook for avant-grade or geometric patterns in cabinets, coffee and centre tables. Fama also had some of their products like Helsinki in geometric designs including sofa pillows too. One can see diamond shape, stripes, triangle, rectangle, straight lines, circles, square all over the fabrics, accessories and designs making geometrical and composite fluid art clearly spanning over new designs and materials at the fair.

For more Post-Milan Design Week 2016 updates visit: simplysofas.in/MDW