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Design trends for 2019: small, sustainable, ‘Scandinese’, curves and Pantone’s latest colour

  • Interior designers have scoured the world’s trade fairs for upcoming trends
  • Recycled plastic, wood and metallic finishes will be popular, as will wall rugs

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Hartô Designs conforms to the trend of smaller furniture.

It’s an interior designer’s job to know what trends are around the corner – so they can inform their clients and stock their shops.

Forecasting cues are taken from a variety of sources, with international trade fairs a reliable bellwether. So what did the shows of 2018 reveal about 2019?

Keith Chan Shing-hin, founder of Hong Kong interior design firm Hintegro, says the Maison & Objet trade fair in Paris saw a trend of smaller-scale furniture, including more flat-pack pieces designed to be self-assembled. Even established European brands are breaking away from classic, bulky designs and crossing over to a Scandinavian-inspired aesthetic, he says.

“[I saw] modular furniture you can buy like Lego to add on and assemble yourself. This is not very French,” he says.

Altfield’s Dragon rugs bridge the wall art and handmade trends.
Altfield’s Dragon rugs bridge the wall art and handmade trends.

Chan believes this look is ideal for Hong Kong, where, he says, there’s a void between high-end European furniture and the cheaper, mass-market brands. On-trend products that don’t dominate a smaller space are also a great fit for the city’s shrinking flat sizes.

“In recent years it’s been better. We have a lot of Japanese and Scandinavian brands that would partly fill the gap, but I still think the middle market is huge,” Chan says.

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