It's hard to ignore that, this season, the high street is 'taking inspiration' from the Soho Home aesthetic. It's designed with a hint of classicism, but a decorative, playful flourish — and the burled wood, marble, ball feet furniture, and tapestry-esque fabrics that are somewhat signatures of the brand have all been adopted by retailers offering the look for a fraction of the price. Another day, another "I could have sworn this was from Soho Home".
However, I've left out one important detail. What the high street is actually capturing is the Soho Home aesthetic from a few years ago. The brand has evolved in that time, and today's offering is more elevated, interesting, and dare-I-say-it exclusive than the high street copycats.
So, we could see Soho Home's new season collection as a portent of things to come; however, as the trends this home decor brand is setting go to prove, it won't be an easy job for the high street to replicate the complexities of these designs, while keeping the price tag low.
Complex Forms
Soho Home wasn't doing uncomplicated designs before; in fact, its designers have always included small, elevating details in their work. Take, for example, the brand's Oxley Coffee Table — it's a clever piece of design that has gone on to become one of Soho Home's most iconic designs, but with that, it has been endlessly duped, too.
For its new season collection, things have been kicked up a notch, and the shapes and silhouettes have become more complex, with more unusual pairings of materials. The soft curves of the brand's much-duped armchairs have been turned angular in the Mila Armchair, creating a bold, hexagonal form. The Franco floor lamp, almost deconstructed, brings a lot of gutsy character to the lighting category, too.
Alternative Burl Woods
Once a signature of almost only Soho Home, out of the major home decor players, burled wood has become ubiquitous on the high street this year. Everyone from Dunelm to M&S has its take on this material.
However, they're all championing burl's most classic, honeyed color, while Soho Home has evolved the trend to look at darker, more pronounced wood grains, as well as intriguingly colored veneers for a dose of the unexpected.
Not Your Everyday Marble
Take a look across high street and high-end design brands, and you'll see that when it comes to marble, white Carrara doesn't cut it anymore. But, of course, what Soho Home is pushing are the rarer, more unusual types of marble and natural stone, that, I'd hazard a guess, the high street would struggle to keep up with.
Whether it's a footstool clad in Brazilian Quartzite, or a sideboard with inserts of 'Terra Bianco', these are more dynamic materials for the modern home.
Ruffled Textiles
Ruffles are a traditionally fussy design detail, but with the right scheme behind it, they become a rich, textural part of the scheme. Soho Home's furniture layers ruches into the scheme through linen chenille in the Vara Bed and Tabitha Footstool.
Textured Timber Finishes
Forget fluted furniture, the next generation of textures is less instantly recognizable and more detailed and nuanced. The Armando Dresser is intricately carved across its pill-shaped form, for example, while the legs on the Alvin Footstool are solid oak with horizontal reeding.
It feels like Soho Home is hitting the biggest interior design trends of the year quite naturally this season, where often it proves more of a timeless offering. It mirrors a move to classic design, as well as decor that feels less cookie cutter.
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