Design trends are a hot-button topic, receiving plenty of attention across the internet, on Pinterest and Instagram, and from design-dedicated publications. Trends can influence what people see, what they purchase, and how they perceive design. Interior designer Erin Owen suggests these aren't all good things.
They reduce design to a popularity contest. The hot colors, the predominant wood species, the latest furniture profiles - these are the opinions of some that have been heralded by companies and design circles. But what's popular for many surely isn't for everyone.
If everyone embrace the same aesthetic, homes would become indistinguishable from one another - which I believe is the antithesis of what homes should look like.
Owen argues that choices should reflect client's personalities rather than what everyone has decided is the current trend in materials, color, or other elements. She argues in favor of getting to know clients, their likes, dislikes, and use of spaces, before making suggestions on how to design a room. Being informed about trends is not a bad thing for designers, but rattling off lists of trends blindly without perspective on the current client is inadvisable.