Interior Design: Think Again
If you are old enough, you may remember when interior design meant something. You had to know your Baroque from your Bas Haus, your Renaissance from your Art Nouveaux. Today’s interior design is nothing like that anymore.
Purist’s interior design of the past had formal named styles that had to be adhered to strictly and it was nearly taboo to vary from the theme. The only exception being, that if you could sneak a piece into the space that sort of look like it belonged, you might get away with it. For the most part, if you were doing Victorian, it had to be all Victorian style.
Back in the 1970s, or so, a word arose in the common man’s vocabulary to reflect the helplessness the ordinary home decorator felt in attempting to adhere to these unforgiving interior design standards. This word was, eclectic. In an everyday family home it was nearly impossible to forego all the little cherished mementoes people had in favor of haughty interior design rules. So people gave up and didn’t even try anymore. It was always something of a joke back then. If your home had the typical mish mash of the souvenir Elvis pillow, mixed with your grandmother’s antique dresser, you laughed, called it “eclectic design” and enjoyed it all just the same.
Rules, What Rules?
Since then the interior design world has been doing some soul searching and came to the conclusion that if, “you can’t beat em, join em.” Give the people what they want and throw out all the old rules. Now everything is eclectic and nothing is sacred.
There are all kinds of famous interior designers still that make good livings at decorating spaces. Funny thing is, that there is no common thread among them. It is more of an interpretive art now, dictated only by the personality of the designer. There are no longer any hard and fast formal rules.
Some interior design is subtle and smooth, with contemplative thought and meditative reflection, calming colors and soothing textures. It is also not uncommon to find boisterous and daring interior design, where the more shocking the contrasts and disconnected the elements are, the better.
The next generation arrived too. Coping with an uncharted, fast-paced, ever-changing world, they become the original out of the box thinkers. This also translated into the academic world where interior designers went to obtain formal credentials. Soon it was accepted practice in the interior design field to allow for any and all artistic and interpretive approaches to interior design.
Abstract Design Concepts
Other abstract thinking to interior design concepts came into play as well. Feng shui, the design concept dictated by Chinese philosophies, that your man-made environment should be in harmony with nature and the earthly elements became popular. Technology gave us new appliances and equipment, in our spaces that dictated new interiors. Outdoor spaces became more than landscape design, there were now open air extensions of our interiors. The outdoors came inside; fountains and indoor trees were welcomed. And now, “going green” makes the utility of our spaces more in tune with the global environment and the collective good instead of an isolated activity.
Interior design is art. In all cultures, at all times in history, the arts have been a mirror into the souls of the common man. As man’s needs ebbed and flowed, art kept pace with the spirit. Our spaces, our dwellings, have always been adorned with the material trappings of the day, but somehow our desire to organized them in a pleasing fashion for our comfort and viewing joy, has never left us either.