Here at Livingetc we rely on Keith Flanagan to keep us up to date - he tirelessly views all the important decor launches so we - and you - don't have to. Keith is a design expert, an editor with an exceptional eye who has a talent for spotting trends as soon as they happen...and often just before they're about to.
And this month has been a busy time. In New York, brands are rushing to get their outdoor launches out in time for a Summer that is surely now not too far away. And Keith is combing through everything to pick out his edit of what's hot right now. So this is what has caught his eye and will be helping to inform what we report on this year.
A mix of outdoor lighting, furniture and even a bar cart, these are the new ideas from the best home decor stores that Keith knows are setting this years big interior design trends.
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MoMA Design Store’s spring preview was always going to be a delight—it’s the brand’s ethos, after all, finding and customizing products that surprise and amuse us. And despite being a NYC brand (with a bulk of its audience boasting NYC-sized apartments), I saw quite a few outdoor products color-blocking their way into the mix, a nod to how much we value our precious outdoor footage in this city (if we’re lucky enough to have a tiny yard or terrace, or even a generous window sill).
One particularly aspirational yet totally attainable product they’ve unearthed is a colorfully powder-coated Urban Garden Trolly that arrives via flatpack (easy on the environment) and, unlike traditional outdoor planters, pops with bright colors (easy on the eyes) like sun yellow and olive green. To me, it looks like a bar cart for your herbs and botanicals–something to spruce up any garden party, no doubt.
See more at the MoMA Design Store
Inside out
I used to wish lighting designers would make outdoor fixtures look more like indoor fixtures (there are only so many classic lanterns I can handle), and it seems all that wishing wasn’t a waste: These days, studios seem to be on a dogged pursuit to create light fixtures that blur the line between exterior and interior design. Folks like Allied Maker come to mind, which operates a showroom in Tribeca inside a former dental office, where many of their fixtures are designed to shine inside and out (with a minor adjustment or two).
In durable materials that look just as desirable in an entryway or a breezeway, its new Summit Sconce is a lovely example, complete with two solid glass domes on either end that cast light up and down. Like crystal balls, the glass orbs are mesmerizing– encased in solid brass, the whole thing looks nearly too elegant to be left out in the elements, and yet rain or shine, it’s the perfect fit.
See more at Allied Maker
Can Can
Monelle Totah and Gary McNatton, the founders of Hudson Grace, are also best friends, a fact that was immediately, charmingly clear as the bespectacled pair finished each other’s sentences during a recent preview of their spring-summer collection (I’d always thought a dinner party hosted by Ina Garten would be the ultimate bucket list invitation, but this entertaining duo gives her a run for her money).
While the SF-founded decor brand’s new lineup indulges happier, joyous colors with a ‘modern nostalgic’ feel, it’s their porcelain* watering cans that, although stark white, put a smile on my face. Sculptural, visibly handmade, and especially functional thanks to interior glazing, each can is one-of-a-kind and strikes the balance between design that works wonders outside but rests beautifully on an inside table, too. In other words? The best of both worlds.
See more at Hudson Grace
Sharp lines
The latest launch by Dallas-based Sutherland Furniture, which has a sizable showroom at New York Design Center, is a striking homage to Japanese aesthetics. Embracing functional clean lines, the Wabi Sabi collection’s ‘architectural’ teak furniture (available in aluminum, too, customizable with an array of earth colors plus new upholstery by Perennials Fabrics) features beautifully sharp angles that form its Four-seat Sofa, while pieces like the Great Lounge Chair lean softer with rounded armrests and legs.
It’s an exciting and bold design for creative director Eugeni Quitllet, well into her second year at the brand, who played with shapes cast by light and shadow. And I can’t help but think the entire line would ease perfectly well with mid century Scandinavian pieces to bring that coveted Japandi style interior design trend straight into the outdoors–and out into the light.
See more at Sutherland Furniture
