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Episode 40 – 2020 Design Trends

Discover how you can green your life by building a knowledgebase of current sustainable and eco-savvy trends. This is Build Green Live Green.

In this episode, we will discuss upcoming industry trends. We are here today with Jessica McNaughton and Julia Antennucci of CaraGreen.

JESSICA: Hi, this is Jessica. 

JULIA: And this is Julia. 

JESSICA: We're here with Build Green Live Green, the CaraGreen podcast that covers the latest trends in sustainability in the built environment. 

JULIA: So it's 2020, it's a new year. Seeing tons of articles out there with what the 2020 design trends are, and of course we have our own, I guess special take on what the trends are this year. 

JESSICA: Right or we've kind of consolidated those trends for you and we want to summarize what we see overall and just having come back from a big trade show, we've kind of been able to distill all the trends down into a concise little podcast for you. Why don't we start with color, Julia? 

JULIA: Yeah, CaraGreen is not unfamiliar with color. We have Durat, we've got Koskisen and we really love colorful surfaces, colorful wall fixtures. But for a long time you saw a lot of grays and whites and blacks and very minimal, you know, conservative colors in kitchens and bathrooms and you know, even offices. But now you're seeing bright orange countertops, you're seeing purple sinks, you're seeing color everywhere where it would normally not be sanctioned and it's becoming a really big trend. 

JESSICA: Yeah. I think with that there's also textures as well, sort of complimenting that color trend. You're starting to see less of this, you know, everything just being glossy and you're starting to see more mattes and textures and kind of contrasting in there with the color as you mentioned. So like you said, you know the Koskisen, the Durat, the Kirei really kind of dovetail really nicely into this trend towards colorful surfaces. 

JULIA: But then like you said, with textures, we have more warmth like you know, with Lapitec and there are several textures, PaperStone, which is, you know, matte and warm to the touch. You're looking at things that are very tactile, you know, the more minimal spaces in the past, the spaces almost, I don't want to say they didn't look lived in, but they looked very conserved and now it's all about more lived in spaces, more color, more hygge, more coziness. And with that comes texture. 

JESSICA: Yeah. I think we saw a lot of, kind of, this wood plus metal, you know, that kind of contrast. And it's almost like designers are thinking about your senses more. So they're really paying attention to what catches your eye and how you respond to that. We did that whole podcast on the impact of color, but things like that, right, they're paying attention to what colors you use, how you're engaging with the spaces, how things feel under your hand. So a real shift from design aesthetic to user experience and you know, you've seen the user experience with, you know, like appliances and stuff like that. Does it talk to Alexa, all that stuff? But now they're really paying attention more to the actual tactile and visual effects and how we engage with them. 

JULIA: And that's interesting. And I think it ties into another trend which we know and love very much, which is biophilic design, which you know, is, you know, our affinity for nature in, you know, our experience in a room, I think always ties into nature.

JESSICA: So, you know, visible woodgrains, you know, the color, green foliage, moss walls. We saw a lot of that at the show and we've even seen surfaces that are starting to incorporate designs from nature, like biomimicry into the pattern that's on the surface itself to get you to engage with nature because it's been proven that incorporating nature into a space soothes you and calms you. So we're seeing a lot more of that kind of natural design come into these spaces. And you know, I expect that trend to continue with biophilic design in general. We've often seen color and texture designed in spaces like a hospital or like a children's museum that we've worked with or children's hospitals, things like that where they, there's kind of like these engaged spaces where, you know, color becomes an important aspect of that. 

JULIA: Yeah, there's actually a name for that trend now. It's called kindercore and you're starting to see it more in the home. 

JESSICA: It's kindercore, like spell it. 

JULIA: Kindercore, K-I-N-D-E-R-C-O-R-E. 

JESSICA: And what's the trend? 

JULIA: So the trend is, you know, bold color blocking, I mean, think nineties bold colors like yellow and blue together. 

JESSICA: But what do you mean by blocking?

JULIA: Juxtaposing these colors next to one another in a way that you know, might be a little visually jarring, but it is very evocative and very stimulating. 

JESSICA: Okay. So we see with kindercore and you know, with that pop of color in general, whether it's your sink or your fixtures or a throw pillow, people are starting to add color back into their space. So we're getting away from this minimalism and more towards this, you know, maximalism. 

JULIA: And I do, I think that speaks to a larger trend of, you know, making design your own instead of following this blueprint of basics and this minimalist, you know, middle of chic that you see all over Instagram or Pinterest.

JESSICA: And I mean we saw it, you know, last week. You've got everyone under the sun has a giant white countertop with gray veins running through it, this marbly pattern and it's complemented by maybe a dusty blue cabinet, but everything else is black and white in the space. So I think what you're saying is as they bring more of this color in, or you shift from minimalism to maximalism, however long that takes along the way, you're able to incorporate more of yourself and those things that appeal to you, color gives you more design levers to pull.

JULIA: Yeah. Right. And so does texture. So does, you know earth tone. So does, you know whatever elements of style that you like that you want to bring into the space. It's not just about finding one color and sticking with it, finding one texture and sticking with it. It's about, you know, bringing it all together and seeing what it means to you. 

JESSICA: And as we expand our offerings, right, you know, with Lapitec and Durat, PaperStone, IceStone, as you know, we are starting to see that texture's becoming a big deal, color’s becoming a big deal. And the designers that we're working with, they want to make it their own. They want you to give them the tools that they use to develop their own style. So that's a really interesting thing that we've seen of late is that they almost want to kind of brand it as their own. And if you can give them the tools to put together a package to make a design their own, they love that. And as CaraGreen, we've always done that where we walk in with, you know, 15 different lines and they can mix and match and build these vignettes and design these great spaces with all these great materials. But now even within our product lines, we're giving them more variables. So Durat, pick an RAL color, pick a filler color, pick a thickness, make it solid. There's all these different options you're giving them to really just take that design and make it their own. So I guess bold colors, color blocking. 

JULIA: Texture, earth tones. 

JESSICA: Kindercore, you know, all of these design trends, shift away from grays and whites to you know, this mix of colors and textures and you know, in the overarching trend that we're seeing as you make that shift is you now have the opportunity to put your fingerprint back on that design. You're not to fit in this box, you know, of grays and whites and how can you mix and match those things together. And you'll start to see in design libraries and on things like Material Bank the real color options that are within there are just kind of unbounded now. So if you want to see some options, some great options for color, go to caragreen.com. Check out some of our product lines there. A lot of what we do can be customized and you can, you know, make it your own using our materials or go to Material Bank and see what's out there. And really, you know, look at these shifts towards color and figure out how you can start to build that into your space. 

JULIA: And to learn more about upcoming trends in 2020 and our take on them, visit our blog, caragreen.com/blog. 

JESSICA: Or follow us on Instagram at CaraGreen products. And if you're a businessperson and you want to follow us on LinkedIn, you can find CaraGreen on LinkedIn as well. This is Jessica. 

JULIA: And this is Julia. 

JESSICA: This is Build Green Live Green. 

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