Autumn/winter 2014/15

Homebuildlife Macro Trends

Moving on from N.D.A., this trend looks at what is real or genuine. We live in an image-driven world, with every detail of our existence documented in photos, which are then circulated worldwide through social media and the internet. These images evolve and are manipulated through filters enhancing, dissecting, deconstructing, distorting, interweaving, tearing apart, stripping back and layering the originals. These photo manipulations are affecting the way we think about reality, and about design, causing us to question the value of real and authentic scenarios and products. What is an image and what is an object? What is the real real?

Whats driving this trend?

PERSON/POSE

This search for authenticity has lead to a recent debate sparked by the New York Times on the validity of the street shot as a representation of real fashion. The line between the person and the pose, the authentic and the fake is increasingly blurred.

Whats driving this trend?

Data becomes art as artists use information, intelligence and statistics to drive a new design direction. Artist Laurie Frick creates large-scale installations based on collections of her own personal data.

Whats driving this trend?

An anti-Instagram aesthetic is emerging, with designers and artists experimenting with creations that look unreal but are in fact unaltered, un-doctored, and undisturbed. #nofilter is a Tumblr where people showcase images that are defiantly unaltered by digital filters.

Research & Reference

Arik Levy: Nothing Is Quite As It Seems In Arik Levys Paris exhibition, Nothing Is Quite As It Seems, the designer presents a range of pieces that play with light, shadow and space. The faceted shape, Levys signature, is used across the exhibition, with structures formed from non-regular geometries and paintings featuring pixelated images.

Herms scarves by Hiroshi Sugimoto Inspired by the prismatic colour seen in Polaroid photographs taken in the morning sun, Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto has created a collection of silk square scarves for Herms. Each limited-edition scarf shows a different colour gradient, from brilliant yellow to rich blue, and asks the enigmatic question 'why must science always cut up the whole into little pieces when it identifies specific attributes?'

Research & Reference

Reflection Range by Kim Thome RCA graduate Kim Thomes Reflection Range uses glass and two-way mirrors to create bold, colourful designs and visual questions for the viewer to explore. Tables, mirrors and cabinets are decorated with fluoro colour and layered geometric patterns, adding a depth of illusion to their surfaces. www.kimthome.com

Machine Knit Glitch Blankets by Phillip Stearns Images captured by intentionally short-circuited digital cameras are used to create these soft accessories by Phillip Stearns. The glitched photographs taken by Stearns are woven or knitted into photo blankets, turning cold digital glitches into warm, emotionally engaging textiles. www.phillipstearns.wordpress.com

PLAYFUL PERSPECTIVES

A playful approach to geometric shapes and facets brings a new sense of space and proportion to objects and interiors. Products and places become true experiences.

NEO PIXEL

The old is layered with the new, as the infinite pixelation play and pixel craft from S/S 14s New Digital Aesthetic evolves into endless pattern possibilities in multiple dimensions.

COLOUR FILTERS

Through multicoloured ombr patterns, complex colour is created through plays of light and material. Materials transmit and distort light and colour, to magical effect.

GLITCH REALITY

Digital glitches move from mistakes to masterpieces. We even interpret nature in a Photoshopped way, and it looks magnificent.

ILLUSIONS

Optical patterns create mesmerising illusions and stripes evolve into three-dimensional forms.

SPECTRUM

Kaleidoscopic impressions are created with fine threads, iridescent materials, and tricks of digital colour and light.

REFLECTING REALITY

Reflections, shapes and mirrors make us wonder what is real - through the power of illusion.

PANTONE Silver C

Colour

PANTONE 19-4022

PANTONE 18-1662

PANTONE 17-6153

PANTONE 16-5515

PANTONE 18-4252

PANTONE 18-2333

PANTONE 19-3953

PANTONE 11-4800

PANTONE 13-0624

PANTONE 13-0752

PANTONE 17-1462

PANTONE 16-1441

Mid-tones sit alongside ultra-bright RGB hues, and ultra-shades of colours, such ultra-violet and ultra-blue, are key. Deepest, darkest blue replaces black, while silver mirror effects create new perspectives.
PANTONE 18-3840 PANTONE 18-3945

Key Colours

Core

PANTONE 19-3953

PANTONE 11-4800

PANTONE 18-3945

PANTONE 19-4022

Directional

PANTONE 18-3840

PANTONE 13-0752

PANTONE 17-6153

PANTONE 18-2333

Accents

PANTONE 16-5515

PANTONE 18-1662

PANTONE 18-4252

PANTONE 17-1462

Colour Usage

SATURATED SHADES

Colours shine through the dark in ultra-hues that go beyond fluorescent.

DIGITAL BASICS

RGB hues bring a playful, post-Memphis feel to the season.

MULTI-DIMENSIONAL COLOUR

Geometrics are treated in 2D, 3D and transparent ways.

COLOUR USAGE

OPTICAL BRIGHTS

Mid-tones and vivid hues create plays of perspective.

MIXED TONALITIES

Concentrated and diluted tones result in a wonderfully warm and happy effect.

COLOUR USAGE

POP UP

Pockets of warm brights liven up cool winter whites.

Key materials

Coloured glass & perspex Clear glass Frosted glass Mirror Coloured concrete Ultra-shiny or ultra-matt ceramics Super-shiny metal with colour-spectrum finishes Water droplets magnify surface texture

Matt chrome Painted surfaces (i.e. wood and

canvas) with flat, minimal texture Natural wood Wide-weave corduroy Plain cotton weaves Short-pile velvet Metallic fabrics & fibres Iridescent weaves

KEY FINISHES

Key finishes

Reflective Iridescent High-shine Matt metal Matt colour Transparent Frosted

KEY PATTERN

Key patterns

Pointillist pixels Infinite geometrics Optical illusions Manipulated, marbled spectrums Photo-real vs digitally-rendered Irregular glitch

Paused & interrupted patterns 3D rendering Magnified patterns Ombr shading from neutrals to brights Shards of light Layered patterns

KEY SHAPE

Key shapes

Irregular facets 3D pixels Faceted shapes layered with pattern Boxy Concentric circles & squares

Elliptical 3D-2D play on shape Flat-packed Fine frames

Key takeaways
The value of real and authentic images and products Dissecting everyday life into facts and data Art and design that celebrate glitches and ruptures Youth move towards images that are not manipulated - an antiInstagram aesthetic

Commercial products explore the idea of realism and illusion