Interior Designer Eda Tahmaz on 2021 Decoration Trends: "The Age of Awareness in Decoration Begins"

Interior designer Eda Tahmaz, founder of EDDA Architecture, offers a fresh perspective on the sector with award-winning residential and office interior designs that unite functional design and aesthetics, evaluating this year's leading decoration trends. The interior designer analyzed the year's colours alongside prominent materials and decoration movements, and also touched upon the pandemic's impact on decoration.   [caption id="attachment_124918" align="aligncenter"] Eda Tahmaz[/caption]   Most recently, EDDA Architecture founder Interior Designer Eda Tahmaz, whose design and implementation of the İmak Ofset Management Office earned the "Best Office Interior Turkey" award at European Property Awards 2020, conducted a detailed analysis of the colours "ultimate gray" and "illuminating" selected by Pantone, as well as the latest trends emerging in materials, furniture and accessories, the increasingly popular Eco-chic, Cottagecore, Hygge and Wabi Sabi movements, and the pandemic's impact on decoration applications.   Ultimate Gray selected by Pantone represents strong elements in our lives like raw concrete, while Illuminating represents the sun, optimism and hope. Noting that these colours, accepted as a common starting point across all sectors from fashion to decoration, create a global and aesthetic common language, Eda Tahmaz emphasizes that in every category of decoration this year—from materials to furniture, from home textiles to accessories—there is a tendency toward "positive thinking and feeling good."

"We will turn toward choices that make us feel better and give positive energy"

According to experts, with the impact of the pandemic experienced globally, we are entering a kind of awareness age with 2021. Conveying that one of the most important tasks for designers is to review and use products manufactured with low-carbon production techniques, the interior designer notes that bioplastics, recycled or upcycled materials will find greater space in projects in 2021. For example, hand-woven carpets made from materials such as coconut fibre, seaweed, linen, hemp and jute, whose material is sourced from sustainable sources, are becoming increasingly common today. Tahmaz, reporting that furniture with rounded lines, pencil legs, a colour palette led by vibrant tones, psychedelic patterns and retro lines signal a return to the disco age in homes, adds: "We are turning toward choices that make us feel better and give positive energy. With the free frequencies of colours and patterns, we are reviving the funk spirit of the 1970s in our homes. The common feature of the star players at design fairs last year were curved, segmented, adorable forms and colours that evoke good feelings in people. These organic forms, maintaining their popularity in 2021, appear in every area of decoration from sofas to ball-shaped armchairs, from lighting with rounded lines to everything else." Whereas wicker and rattan furniture were once indispensable elements of garden decoration, with the blurred boundaries between interior and exterior spaces, they are now entering living rooms, kitchens and even bedrooms. Valued for their lightness and natural quality, wicker armchairs, rattan bed heads, wicker storage cabinets and rattan bedside tables create a harmonious whole in interior spaces compatible with different styles. Beyond these, soft-textured textiles appealing to the senses ranging from merino wool to cashmere, as well as furs, linen, wool, plush, chenille and felt—textures that add warmth to the space—appear as complementary elements. In accessory selections, in 2021 we will see the use of current and modern products alongside old and spiritually valuable accessories. Vintage, products we could call old but meaningful, have become accessories entering our living spaces more frequently. Handmade products using natural materials are also among this year's trends.

"Sustainability and naturalness will find a place in our kitchens and bathrooms too"

Emphasizing that the pursuit of sustainability and naturalness in our spaces exists in every conceivable area, Eda Tahmaz conveys that natural wood coating materials, wood-look tiles, marble, porcelain and ceramics stand out, as well as mosaics in various colours and textures used particularly in bathrooms and kitchens. This year, with the use of irregular, textured natural materials, vintage products in bathroom accessories and bathrooms designed with natural and old concepts also stand out. With the influence of coronavirus, cooking more at home than ever has made the kitchen the focus of attention. This, in turn, has shifted focus to making kitchens spaces where all family members can spend time together rather than merely functional spaces. In kitchen decoration, renewing the old rather than discarding it and bringing in the new is among this year's trends. According to the interior designer, who believes that natural, easy-to-clean materials and neutral colours will enter our kitchens, patinated wood surfaces and metal textures will also give kitchens an old yet modern appearance. "While renovating, we always draw inspiration from our past in which we felt peaceful and secure." Explaining that when creating living spaces influenced by nature, nostalgia and a desire for a tropical escape, styles such as hygge, industrial, wabi sabi, vintage, cottagecore, mid-century and eco-chic emerge, Tahmaz states that the common point of these styles is that they reach us from the past and keep pace with the era we live in. Eco-chic, a sort of warm minimalism, is a movement where craftsmanship meets warm tones. While golden beige, moss green, olive green and burnt orange colours stand out, fabrics that appeal to the sense of touch such as matte velvet, bouclé and linen serve comfort and a cocoon-like feeling. Cottagecore style, which takes the feeling of countryside cottage living and brings this atmosphere to our homes wherever we live, is rooted in the quest to escape stress and illness and to heal. The colour scale spans every tone of neutral and pastel colours, while linen, wool, felt, lace, solid wood furniture, tartan patterns, tapestry fabrics, copper, tin, enamel and earthenware vessels and accessories are defining codes of this style. Hygge style, which has become the life philosophy of all Scandinavian countries focusing on comfort, cosiness and warmth at home, and which involves transforming even the simplest moments alone or with friends into enjoyable rituals, concentrates on decoration with soft blankets, cushions, candles and carpets to enhance the sense of warmth. Among the prominent features of Wabi Sabi style are asymmetry, simplicity and natural objects. Generally, it is created by bringing together understated, memorable, old, nostalgic and antique objects. In this understanding, traces of simplicity and lived experience are seen in every detail from colours to furniture, from surfaces to accessories. There is no place for anything synthetic and artificial. Objects need not appear harmonious with each other. What matters is bringing together objects that have lived experience, soul and aesthetic in an appropriate manner. Handmade ceramics that cannot be identical to each other by nature, natural wood furniture and crumpled linen bedcovers are starting points for bringing Wabi Sabi into your home.

"With the pandemic, we have come to feel the need for separate spaces for many things we did not previously attach much importance to..."

Noting that, as we have necessarily spent more time in our homes during this pandemic period when our social life and connection to the outside world have nearly ended, we have become even more focused on ourselves and the spaces we inhabit, Interior Designer Eda Tahmaz states that this situation has provided us with the opportunity to utilise spaces in our homes that were previously idle, and shares her views on the pandemic's impact on decoration and the criteria we should pay attention to with these words: "For many of us, our home became our workplace. With work moving to the home, the need arose for an isolated and comfortable work area within the home. Moreover, factors such as the background appearing in online meetings influenced the creation of work spaces with aesthetic concerns. Additionally, the furniture used in work areas became important to be ergonomic, functional and aesthetic. During the pandemic, we have spent more time with our families at home, but we have also placed special emphasis on our hobbies where we will be alone with ourselves. For this reason, corners set aside for our hobbies at home have perhaps entered the category of spaces we say 'must be in my home.' Among the leading criteria to be observed in residential interior design during the pandemic period is first and foremost colour selection. Warm tones such as beige and earth tones, white, grey, cream, earth tones and moss green should be chosen for spaces. We will see the Ultimate Gray and Illuminating colours selected by Pantone as 2021 trend colours and the tones of these colours in our spaces. The use of natural, sustainable materials is also quite effective in adding a sense of lived experience to the spaces we inhabit. Another important criterion is that the spaces we inhabit receive natural light. Our lighting preference should always be to benefit maximally from daylight. Subsequently, lighting should be supported with wall lights, candles and floor lamps."