“Haute Couture” for Bathrooms

Bathroom design is one of the most actively changing areas of interior design - we saw a lot of new technologies and growth in colorful new designs:

Antonio Lupi

but this customization and addition of textures is something new:

the first Akron bath on the market - Opal Quiz bathtub; source: archiproducts.com

 "...total adaptability thanks to the cut to size, which allows the product to adapt to every bathroom space, customization with more than 2,000 colours..."

Have a look at Bathroom Trends 2021 for more details.

Vertical Garden - Organic Balcony Gardening

Who would not love to have fresh herbs and vegetables for their everyday meals? Don't have garden? Growing your own organic vegetables even if you live in the city is not such an impossible dream. If you're looking for a unique way to grow your own food, stop thinking horizontally - with a vertical garden you can do it on your balcony, too. Especially vegetables that don’t take a lot of space to grow and produce more are ideal for growing on the balcony. And you can make things easier if you use vertical garden planters like these:

Garden Tower®

The Garden Tower 

With a vertical planter like the one above you can grow up to 50 plants if you have four square feet of space! 

Today there is a wave of innovative ideas for urban dwellers to grow plants and herbs in limited space like, for example, these Green Pockets is the name of these ingenious wall tiles by Maruja Fuentes - an architect and a professor at the International School of Design of the Turabo in Puerto Rico. A great tool for creating a living wall in your home or office. They are also green because they are produced from re-used materials.

Vertical gardens are a stunning addition to any home and I have posted earlier about Urban wall garden with magnetic pots in one of my other blogs,

but they probably have a more decorative purpose, while The Garden Tower seems to be the most compact and practical.

Today space and natural resources have become a very rare commodity, especially in the cities. And, as we continue to stay longer at our homes, may be it is a good idea to think about your own organic garden, at least for part of the vegetables and herbs that you use. Also, vertical gardening is a great way to maximize your living space and enhance the beauty and enjoyment of your home. Vertical gardens are comparatively easy to create, customize and care for and a great possibility for city dwellers to grow their organic vegetables. 

Another Trend from Supersalone

In addition to sustainability - a central theme in this year’s fair - a lot of colour everywhere was another distinctive interior design trend. After the gloomy almost two years without live events designers now respond with rich colour palettes:

Tote by Sebastian Herkner

Arper - Mixu collection

Cielo bathrooms ph. T.Zaharieva

ph. T.Zaharieva

MOM - photo T. Zaharieva

More about Supersalone at my blog Designcommentator: Supersalone shows what the international furniture fair should look like in the future

Commercial Lighting Design Trends

According to many specialists the difference between a good room and a perfect one is the lighting. Probably that is true for commercial spaces, too. Commercial building occupants and users - office employees, retail shoppers, hotel guests or patients at a hospital,  all need a more customized, comfortable, and smart building experience. And one of the most important elements for this is lighting. 

Clavel Arquitectos' makeover of the five-star Gran Hotel Casino Extremadura deploys lighting to accentuate the spatial opulence of the complex's entertainment venues. Photos: David Frutos (BISimages) source: architonic.com

A good interior designer should be able to offer the best solution for her customers. And we have to consider not just the visual elements of lighting design, target and ambient lighting, but also flexibility, efficiency, possibility to use different levels of lighting, its impact on people and environment, cost effectiveness. Studies show that lighting makes up over 30% of electricity consumption in buildings. 

The main trend is growing use of LED lighting solutions - they provide not only energy savings but also costs savings. Also, LED lighting technology has the ability to enrich experiences and complement architectural components and all that makes it a major element of commercial lighting.

source: Pinterest

Power and control of LED lamps via Power-over-Ethernet network creates new opportunities for using this type of light source. PoE lighting systems are smart lighting. They improve control over light quality, lower energy bills, and substantially lengthen bulb life. Perhaps the biggest advantage of LED lighting in a PoE network is that it will be compatible with new technologies in the future, as data cables, power cables and lighting cables are already installed where needed. Adding a new sensor or module to the smart LED hub is a cheap way to increase the capabilities of the existing infrastructure without additional expensive lighting replacement. Zūm Wired lighting control provides all the same features you are looking for in a PoE lighting system, but for a lower cost and more reliability, serving as a true end-to-end solution.

I am very much impressed with another interesting trend in lighting, especially for commercial spaces - it has additional functions.  We can now have lighting which is designed not only to illuminate but is also able to absorb ambient noise and ensure a high level of acoustic comfort:

The Acustica suspension lamp by Fabbian at Life Source, a new hospitality centre in Bergamo

All these are part of a bigger trend - Lighting for Enhanced Occupant Health and Wellness. Many studies prove that the correct amount and type of illumination provided to building occupants can enhance overall health and wellbeing. 

You can read more about Lighting and How to create a good mood in your living space by using great lighting in my blog Designcommentator.

More Inspiration from Supersalone

and Milan. My photos, please, do not copy!

 

De Castelli

This one continues to be one of my favorites, even after testing it personally :)

More details about Supersalone in my blog Design Commentator

Some of my favorites from Supersalone

 I like glass very much and for a good reason - it creates a feeling of lightness in the interiors I design. And especially coloured glass. Imagine how beautiful these side tables will be in front of your sofa or next to your comfortable armchair :)

Soda by Yiannis Ghikas for Miniforms

Boterina Armchair by Miniforms

- for their numerous possibilities.

my photo

my photo

More will follow soon. We are available for reports and trends analysis.