Trends: What’s In & What’s Out

1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge

Written by Elizabeth Goldwait

Hotel & Restaurant design for the past couple of years has been so focused on “The Instagrammable Moment” that it now seems to be falling a bit flat on the feed. For me, focusing solely on that causes the design to lose its impact and become redundant. So, I am excited to see the designers that are working to shake it up this year and go back to creating original spaces for the individual and not that quick moment for the masses. Hallelujah! A personal desire for me is to see more colour, mismatch and standout pieces like walls filled with Trompe-L'oeil.

Eco Friendly

We’d like to call this one a movement instead of a trend! Sustainability in hospitality and life is definitely something we can get behind. With hotels & restaurants taking responsibility for the planet & focusing on their environmental impact we are seeing a boom in the products that are now being offered in the mainstream.

Hotels are making design moves like carbon-neutral paint, biodegradable linens, and air-purifying sculptures, others are incorporating smaller gestures like water-saving showerheads and refillable carafes on each floor to replace plastic bottles. The luxury resort brand, Six Senses aims to be plastic-free by 2022, and is integrating sustainability through passive cooling, electric transport, and Earth Labs into each of its new properties.

Another welcome trend of 2020 is biophilic design as seen in the very popular 1 Hotels. I personally love the idea of gigantic trees in lobbies and plants hanging at the bar. (please and thanks!) Another great incentive 1 Hotels is working on is the Preservation of land & water in fiji.

Mixology

The usual mass made simple lined furnishing meet tactile surfaces and locally made handcrafted objects. More and more consumers are looking for the real experience and wanting to stay in a hotel or dine in a restaurant that feels local. Not just a beautiful hotel that could be the same anywhere in the world. So, we are seeing the rise of more relaxed designs, turning away from the uniform; all things new, all things perfect.

We welcome the balance of old & new, a complex design of many layers that feels authentic and local to the destination. A favorite of mine is Kelly Werstlers design for the Proper Hotels, she used local art and textiles to fill the space to bring a deep sense of culture to the building.

Proper Hotel Austin

A Restorative Pallet

When it comes to color this year we have noticed the continued presence of natural tones, found objects and wooden accents. I’m also LOVING the eclectic pallet of burnt oranges, classic & powder blues and earthy greens that are being used to partner with those natural tones. Here are my favorite colors for the year from Farrow & Ball.

Sample Color Palette