Friday 27 January 2017

Purple & Green. The Interiors Trend Colours for 2017

I know I've been banging on a lot about colour recently but it is hugely important in my line of work and also personally. Harmonious colours make me feel nice and discordant colours make me feel uncomfortable. I consider myself to be colour sensitive... or something like that. Anyway, I want to talk about the big trend colours for 2017 which are purple and green, often together.
I have a love/hate relationship with both of these colours. Take purple for example. I loathe and detest bright blue purples but I adore deep red purples...go figure! And the same with greens. I love muted natural shades of green, olive, sage, moss, forest etc but hate lime, fluorescent or bright green.

I visited one of my fabric stockists recently Glada Ungmöns Diversehandel, we chatted about the new colour trends, I could see she was right onboard with it...



and what did I say about parrots last year? I said they were going to be everywhere...and they are!

I saw lots of purple and green being mixed together when I was at Formex trade show last week too, combined with tropical birds and lots of botanicals....



You can see what I mean from this pic from a PR bureau in Stockholm...

I really loved the stand by Jacobsdahls fabrics. It always looks so beautifully presented.. and more parrots! I'm telling you! We're being taken over!

I showed you some gorgeous tableware from STHÅL in my last blog, but I just have to show you more of their stuff because I just love this colour combo so much..

It wasn't just interiors rocking this colour combo though, even the furs on offer from Natures Collection featured gorgeous shades... I have to say I'm a bit hesitant to mention them because I'm kind of anti fur, I'm a huge animal lover, I don't eat red meat and I feel a bit weird about it all. But I love these colours together, so lets just leave my ethical dilemma aside for a moment shall we?

Actually, I've been inspired by the combination of these colours for a while, so much so it inspired me for one of my latest designs, Green Snake
You can buy it here

I'm going to be doing a lot more in these kinds of colours this year, I'm definitely feeling' it!
And if you are not convinced, then check out these gorgeous examples of when this colour combo can really work...
  
                                                                                                                                   























and this has to be a personal favourite, just for the sheer exuberant love of colour, and done by my friend Janice Issitt for Annie Sloans Chalk Paint Painters in Residence project. If you love painting, interior decorating, renovating, photography, knitting, travelling, crafty business or a million other things that Janice can do, then go check out her blog

And if you feel inspired and want to get some more eye candy then check out my Pinterest...





Friday 20 January 2017

Formex Trade Show SS2017 Trends and Thoughts

I'm sitting here at Formex, as I do twice every year. formex is Scandinavias largest gifts and interiors trade fair and I've been doing it for years....

I've had a chance to mooch about and look around before it opens in the mornings and I have to say that I'm not super impressed...firstly, there is the very weird 'trend zone' in the lobby... There are tumbleweeds blowing through there...ok, not actual tumbleweeds, but it is a bit ghost towny. Actual tumbleweeds would fit in quite nicely though as the trend zone is just a bunch of mirrored boxes containing pine cones and tree branches and leaves and stuff. No actual trend prediction or guidance there then... Apart from that nature is really 'in' right now. Can you detect my sarcasm? Well there's lots of it. I am not impressed. Nature is always in, nature is the most awesome thing, but I'm just not sure what it is doing in a trend zone.




I'm seeing a huge trend for Greekkey and strong deco inspired graphic patterns, and really masses of gold foil embossed on velvet. I'm seeing really a lot of velvet...

These gorgeous cushions by Livva 
                              
As far as colour go, well I have seen hardly any of Pantones 'Vile Bile' sorry, of course I mean 'Greenery' the only thing I saw was some glassware on Jonathan Adlers stand
                       
But I have seen a huge amount of green, natural greens, but not as bright and nasty as Greenery. Lots of sage, moss and forest greens which I just love and frequently teamed up with purples.



This gorgeous crockery is by STHÅL

My feeling is that purple and green are going to be really big colours this year, so much so that I'll be doing a whole blog next Friday about that very topic....
And in case you are wondering, here are a couple of pics from my stand...





And how could I not include the cushions that I did featuring my daughters Scarlett's drawings?


Friday 13 January 2017

What's New for 2017

Well, you might've thought I'd dropped off the face of the earth recently as it has been a quite place in my blog world... I almost did drop off the face of the earth, well, lost up a mountain anyway. I spent my Christmas holiday tucked away up in the snowy north of Sweden, no wifi, no work, just peace and quiet and breath taking nature..
.

This is the cute cottage we were staying in...


On the morning that we left we saw the most incredible thing in the sky, It was like a huge oil slick in the sky, but less gross and more unicorny. So beautiful, the picture doesn't do it justice...

I only just got back to work and it is the madness that is 'getting ready for Formex'. I do this trade show twice a year, but it doesn't matter how organised I am or how much I prepare, there is alway last minute bonkerness!
Next Friday I will actually be at Formex, so I'll try to post up some pics from the show and the following week I want to talk about the trends for 2017.
But before I do that I will leave you with a few of my brand new designs to give you a flavour of what is to come...
Ibiza Nights cushion

Victorian Gothic Long

Green Snake

This is a new design that is available in cushions, fabrics, wash bags, purses, shoppers, carpets...
Luna Gold / Luna Way