Textile Trends Look to a More Sustainable Future
New approaches to design are highlighted in a seminar previewing the 2021 Heimtextil trade fair
It’s what everyone in the design scene is wondering: What are the trends that will appear after COVID-19? Heimtextil, the leading fair for home and interiors textiles, is scheduled for May 4-7, 2021, in Frankfurt, Germany, and may offer some answers. (The show’s previously planned dates of Jan. 12-15, 2021, were just changed.) The trade show recently presented a video seminar with textile trends for 2021-22.
The fair’s motto, “Nothing New, Everything New,” suggests that our constant desire for new things and more products no longer fits the zeitgeist. Instead, there’s a new emphasis on repurposing existing materials, making textiles that last, looking to nature and incorporating production waste into materials.
The fair’s motto, “Nothing New, Everything New,” suggests that our constant desire for new things and more products no longer fits the zeitgeist. Instead, there’s a new emphasis on repurposing existing materials, making textiles that last, looking to nature and incorporating production waste into materials.
Commandeur and Bisgaard Gaede join Kate Franklin and Caroline Till of London studio Franklin Till on Heimtextil’s Trend Council. They have collected the trends for the coming year in a trend book.
“Issues of sustainability have never been more important,” Till says. “We are now using 1.75 planets’ worth of resources every year, so we are living way beyond our means.
“The fashion industry has had some incredible innovations happening in the last couple of years and has really woken up to the challenges that we face in relation to the impact of our current systems of production and consumption,” Till says. “And now the interiors industry is really potentially lagging behind. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 9 million tons of furniture and furnishings are ending up in the landfill every year. There is this emerging mindset among people wanting to live more sustainably.”
Using resources more responsibly is the unifying theme of the following trends.
6 Nordic Design Trends to Watch in 2020
“Issues of sustainability have never been more important,” Till says. “We are now using 1.75 planets’ worth of resources every year, so we are living way beyond our means.
“The fashion industry has had some incredible innovations happening in the last couple of years and has really woken up to the challenges that we face in relation to the impact of our current systems of production and consumption,” Till says. “And now the interiors industry is really potentially lagging behind. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 9 million tons of furniture and furnishings are ending up in the landfill every year. There is this emerging mindset among people wanting to live more sustainably.”
Using resources more responsibly is the unifying theme of the following trends.
6 Nordic Design Trends to Watch in 2020
1. Repurpose: Out of the Mothballs
What it’s about: No new textiles are created. Instead, the industry digs deep in its materials chest and creates new designs with existing fabrics. In music, this is called “sampling.”
“Repurpose is really about going from creation to curation,” Bisgaard Gaede says.
Colors: Familiar hues that aren’t overly dominant, such as marine blue, reseda green, copper, marigold, dusty pink and sky blue. Color blocking is used as an aid in repurposing.
Patterns: Well-loved old patterns such as checks, stripes and small, romantic florals.
Examples: Color-blocked creations from Dutch studio Simone Post or the clothing trend of printing new patterns and symbols onto old textiles.
What it’s about: No new textiles are created. Instead, the industry digs deep in its materials chest and creates new designs with existing fabrics. In music, this is called “sampling.”
“Repurpose is really about going from creation to curation,” Bisgaard Gaede says.
Colors: Familiar hues that aren’t overly dominant, such as marine blue, reseda green, copper, marigold, dusty pink and sky blue. Color blocking is used as an aid in repurposing.
Patterns: Well-loved old patterns such as checks, stripes and small, romantic florals.
Examples: Color-blocked creations from Dutch studio Simone Post or the clothing trend of printing new patterns and symbols onto old textiles.
2. Reinforce: Playing It Safe With Minimalism
What it’s about: Longevity and Scandinavian style, which has proved itself a stalwart of lasting design and functionality. “The key statement for reinforce is that we really want to take on going from short-lived to longevity,” Bisgaard Gaede says.
Colors: A familiar palette of grays, off-whites such as buttercream, gray-white, dark green, and black with brown tones. It’s about shades that have been on the market a long time and proved successful. These colors are used in monochrome palettes.
Technologies: Robust materials with a firm structure. Additional stuffing becomes superfluous. Tight weaves and high-quality textiles that guarantee long use.
Examples: The Bouncing Patterns 3D textiles from Juliette Berthonneau (pictured here on the right), minimalist furniture by Swedish manufacturer Massproductions.
What it’s about: Longevity and Scandinavian style, which has proved itself a stalwart of lasting design and functionality. “The key statement for reinforce is that we really want to take on going from short-lived to longevity,” Bisgaard Gaede says.
Colors: A familiar palette of grays, off-whites such as buttercream, gray-white, dark green, and black with brown tones. It’s about shades that have been on the market a long time and proved successful. These colors are used in monochrome palettes.
Technologies: Robust materials with a firm structure. Additional stuffing becomes superfluous. Tight weaves and high-quality textiles that guarantee long use.
Examples: The Bouncing Patterns 3D textiles from Juliette Berthonneau (pictured here on the right), minimalist furniture by Swedish manufacturer Massproductions.
3. Re-Wild: Nature as a Resource
What it’s about: The rediscovery of not merely natural materials but — more important — of genuine, wild, native materials. “We’re looking at the materials that nature is giving us and using them in a contemporary way,” Bisgaard Gaede says. “We’re rediscovering all of these materials that are actually just before our nose.”
In keeping with that theme, a second edition of the Future Materials Library will be released at Heimtextil 2021. The collection, curated by Franklin Till, displays innovations in sustainable materials.
Colors: True natural hues with many green, beige and brown tones. Accent colors such as gray-blue and warm orange. Textiles colored with herbal dyes. Everything is reminiscent of classic camouflage; tone-on-tone; no color blocking.
Examples: The wall hangings by Rebekka Nielsen, seagrass textiles from Convert, low-tech designs from Julia Watson, mulberry tree fabrics from Buro Belén.
What it’s about: The rediscovery of not merely natural materials but — more important — of genuine, wild, native materials. “We’re looking at the materials that nature is giving us and using them in a contemporary way,” Bisgaard Gaede says. “We’re rediscovering all of these materials that are actually just before our nose.”
In keeping with that theme, a second edition of the Future Materials Library will be released at Heimtextil 2021. The collection, curated by Franklin Till, displays innovations in sustainable materials.
Colors: True natural hues with many green, beige and brown tones. Accent colors such as gray-blue and warm orange. Textiles colored with herbal dyes. Everything is reminiscent of classic camouflage; tone-on-tone; no color blocking.
Examples: The wall hangings by Rebekka Nielsen, seagrass textiles from Convert, low-tech designs from Julia Watson, mulberry tree fabrics from Buro Belén.
4. Revive: The Process Defines the Look
What it’s about: A visual manifestation of youth activism on the state of the world. Creativity as self-expression. The end result is less important than the process — how something is created. The trend is defined by layering, structures and distorted patterns.
Colors: This color scale is much more lively, with bright yellow, medium pink, dark burgundy, emerald green, khaki and lavender. The colors can be combined in any way.
Technologies: It’s about the creative process of cobbling together and repairing. Patchwork will become a potent method for creating new things. Material offcuts and shreds will be combined in new surfaces. Here there are no bounds to the joy of experimentation.
Examples: Digital patchwork from Tim van der Loo, “hacked” textiles from Julie Helles Eriksen, paper textiles from Henriette Tilanus.
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What it’s about: A visual manifestation of youth activism on the state of the world. Creativity as self-expression. The end result is less important than the process — how something is created. The trend is defined by layering, structures and distorted patterns.
Colors: This color scale is much more lively, with bright yellow, medium pink, dark burgundy, emerald green, khaki and lavender. The colors can be combined in any way.
Technologies: It’s about the creative process of cobbling together and repairing. Patchwork will become a potent method for creating new things. Material offcuts and shreds will be combined in new surfaces. Here there are no bounds to the joy of experimentation.
Examples: Digital patchwork from Tim van der Loo, “hacked” textiles from Julie Helles Eriksen, paper textiles from Henriette Tilanus.
More on Houzz
Read more coverage of design events
Browse millions of photos for inspiration
“Now is the time for a new perception of ‘new’ itself, as both consumers and the industry are beginning to change existing systems and ways of working in different ways,” a Heimtextil release says.
It’s about changing the narrative of the textile industry, says Danish trend expert Anja Bisgaard Gaede of Spott Trends & Business.
“Our clients had to rethink their businesses,” says Anne Marie Commandeur of the Stijlinstituut Amsterdam. “Our clients are fiber producers, textile producers, finishers, but also machine makers and research labs. They were urged to become more affordable and accessible but clean up their acts at the same time.” The pandemic accelerated that process, as well as the transition to digitalization.