As someone who has grown comfortable with being identified as a tastemaker, there’s an overwhelming amount of pressure when you’re called upon to spot design trends for the year ahead. I started receiving emails about 2024 trends as early as September, which felt premature, but didn’t stop from sending me into a feverish panic that I still haven’t quite sweated out. My predictions come from a place of trusting my own instincts—I try to avoid being influenced by what everyone else on the internet thinks, which is not an easy task in the age of algorithms. But if my picks are wrong, is that a red flag indicating that I’ve lost my touch? Should I just pack it up and retire?
In case the message wasn’t loud and clear from our list of expired design trends for 2023, trend cycles are what you make of them and aren’t necessarily meant to be followed if they’re not on brand for you. This might just be me projecting an unpopular opinion, but when the colors of the year are revealed you probably aren’t going to redo your entire space based on these commercial trends. (Peach Fuzz could pop off, but did you know that the feng shui colors for the Year of the Wood Dragon are emerald green, imperial yellow, and red?) Do you make design decisions based on data and calculate the risks? I digress. It’s too early to confirm what cores will dominate our interiors in 2024, but the design trends on my radar are a smorgasbord of elements that tap into the rustic, cozy, and surreal.
Unexpected botanical arrangements
If tomato girl summer taught us anything, an obsession with produce can lead to some pretty incredible—albeit unusual—decorative accents in the home. Back in October, I was delighted to see an installation by Asmite Gherezgiher at Black Folks in Design’s Spotlight II showcase that highlighted okra by pairing it with striped horsetail (equisetum), datura, banksia, chili peppers, and datura pods. “The arrangement was familiar, nostalgic, and idiosyncratic,” she shares in an email. For many florists, steering away from what is expected stems from a desire to improvise and further develop one’s style. As Asmite further explains, “There’s a slight pressure to want to keep creating new arrangements every time. But a lot of the time, the creativity is confined to what we can readily forage, source locally, and what the market is able to provide at the moment.” So the next time you’re conceptualizing the “perfect” arrangement to bring a room to life, forget what’s trending and consider thinking outside the box with your botanical references.
Rounded feet that stand on business
Whether it’s on the bottom of a bathtub, a bed, or a table, you won’t be able to get around running into spherical feet. Just when you thought Adwoa Aboah’s pink primary bathroom couldn’t get any better, around the corner awaits a beautiful bathtub with ball feet from Edwins. Earlier this year, Australian designer Sarah Ellison introduced a coffee table version of her signature Yoko bed (a platform frame with oversized ball feet). “We crave that human element that is round and soft, and sensual in a way,” she told Design Within Reach. If 2024 is all about standing on business then there’s no better way to practice what you preach from the comfort of your home.