A Shift From Sustainability to Desirable Development
Trend forecaster Vincent Grégoire discusses why desire and the senses will be central to consumption in the future
After in-person events were cancelled at its last few editions due to the pandemic, Maison & Objet made its big return onto the Paris scene in September. The central theme of the decoration, design and lifestyle fair was an inspiring idea: “Desirable Development,” highlighting consumer interest in ethical products and solutions. Vincent Grégoire, director of forecasting at international trend agency Nelly Rodi, tells us about the key features of this core trend.
Photo from Libeco Home
How do you explain “sustainable” transitioning into “desirable”?
The need for desirability and this quest for meaning was already part of the zeitgeist. The pandemic overturned what was fundamental to us and placed many of our patterns in question, accelerating the need for humanity, simplicity and solidarity.
2021 is marked by resilience, just as 2022 will be synonymous with rebirth, re-creation and reinvention marked by positive energy — redefining our manner of living, consuming and inhabiting. It’s time for optimism!
Comfortable Classics and Sustainability at Danish Design Show
How do you explain “sustainable” transitioning into “desirable”?
The need for desirability and this quest for meaning was already part of the zeitgeist. The pandemic overturned what was fundamental to us and placed many of our patterns in question, accelerating the need for humanity, simplicity and solidarity.
2021 is marked by resilience, just as 2022 will be synonymous with rebirth, re-creation and reinvention marked by positive energy — redefining our manner of living, consuming and inhabiting. It’s time for optimism!
Comfortable Classics and Sustainability at Danish Design Show
Photo from Anouck Barcat Paysagiste
What are the major tracks emerging around desirable development?
Redefining geography. We are noticing a need for proximity, the new development of connections over shorter distances, in reaction to globalization and internationalization. This implies a new relationship to space, a relocalization, a redefinition of geography and a new proximity.
What are the major tracks emerging around desirable development?
Redefining geography. We are noticing a need for proximity, the new development of connections over shorter distances, in reaction to globalization and internationalization. This implies a new relationship to space, a relocalization, a redefinition of geography and a new proximity.
Photo from Eat Your Greens, from Gestalten
While more and more city dwellers are leaving the large urban areas, we are seeing at the same time an urgent need to re-tame the city, to appropriate the urban, by placing value on proximity and restoring the life of the neighborhood. Local manufacturing, deliveries by tricycle, urban farms or terraces with edible plants illustrate this trend.
While more and more city dwellers are leaving the large urban areas, we are seeing at the same time an urgent need to re-tame the city, to appropriate the urban, by placing value on proximity and restoring the life of the neighborhood. Local manufacturing, deliveries by tricycle, urban farms or terraces with edible plants illustrate this trend.
Photo by Jours et Nuits
Retraining the senses. The senses, sensation and sensitivity are at the heart of the desirable. The pandemic made us lose our benchmarks and restricted our senses: our relationship to taste, smell but also to vision and touch.
During the lockdown, we were deprived of the people close to us, of everything that surrounds us. The idea emerging from this crisis is sensitivity, even hyper-sensitivity. We must also retrain these senses, which have been undermined by the omnipresence of the digital, by placing the human once again at the heart of our lives.
Textiles of the Future Will Be Colorful and Biodegradable
Retraining the senses. The senses, sensation and sensitivity are at the heart of the desirable. The pandemic made us lose our benchmarks and restricted our senses: our relationship to taste, smell but also to vision and touch.
During the lockdown, we were deprived of the people close to us, of everything that surrounds us. The idea emerging from this crisis is sensitivity, even hyper-sensitivity. We must also retrain these senses, which have been undermined by the omnipresence of the digital, by placing the human once again at the heart of our lives.
Textiles of the Future Will Be Colorful and Biodegradable
Soft lounge flatpack. Photo from Takt
Valuing learning. At the same time, we note a need to place learning and knowledge back at the heart of production and manufacturing processes. Now, consumers inform themselves about the materials used and their provenance, the different stages of production, the packaging or the transformation of a product.
Valuing learning. At the same time, we note a need to place learning and knowledge back at the heart of production and manufacturing processes. Now, consumers inform themselves about the materials used and their provenance, the different stages of production, the packaging or the transformation of a product.
Photo from Takt
Brands and manufacturers, for their part, deliver pedagogical and playful experiences, thus learning themselves. This step toward knowledge transfer is fundamental for a tendency towards intelligent consumption.
The Danish brand Takt, for example, which comes up with products that need minimal packaging, is committed to complete transparency, from production steps to prices.
Top Trends From London’s Decorex Design Fair 2021
Brands and manufacturers, for their part, deliver pedagogical and playful experiences, thus learning themselves. This step toward knowledge transfer is fundamental for a tendency towards intelligent consumption.
The Danish brand Takt, for example, which comes up with products that need minimal packaging, is committed to complete transparency, from production steps to prices.
Top Trends From London’s Decorex Design Fair 2021
Les Inséparables vase. Photo from Audrey Jezic Céramiques
Reinventing the artisanal. Removing the inhibitions around consumption and injecting fantasy, audacity and fun into the artisanal, recycling and upcycling are part of the central tendencies of desirable development. The result: pieces that are unique, spontaneous and creative in new ways, committed and sensorially rich.
The success of recycling studios, creative ateliers, needlework like crochet or macramé, along with objects with pictorial dimensions and totemic furniture pieces, demonstrate the resurgence of artistic reference points in the world of decoration, [for example] in the form of sculptural pieces in chamotte stoneware in bright colors designed by the ceramicist Audrey Jezic.
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Reinventing the artisanal. Removing the inhibitions around consumption and injecting fantasy, audacity and fun into the artisanal, recycling and upcycling are part of the central tendencies of desirable development. The result: pieces that are unique, spontaneous and creative in new ways, committed and sensorially rich.
The success of recycling studios, creative ateliers, needlework like crochet or macramé, along with objects with pictorial dimensions and totemic furniture pieces, demonstrate the resurgence of artistic reference points in the world of decoration, [for example] in the form of sculptural pieces in chamotte stoneware in bright colors designed by the ceramicist Audrey Jezic.
More on Houzz
Read more design stories
Find design and remodeling professionals
Shop for home products
Why was the theme “Desirable Development” chosen to illustrate this new edition of Maison & Objet?
This new theme reflects a basic premise: Consumers want solutions that are simple, positive, fluid and most of all, do them good. Until now, sustainable development was often a moralizing injunction. Desirable development gives pleasure pride of place, while respecting nature in a beneficial approach. It’s an idea that is at once positive and creative.
Today, consumers are conscious of global warming, of the need to limit their consumption and its waste and carbon footprint…. From now on, the idea is to place desire once again at the heart of these environmental stakes, by avoiding catastrophizing discourse or assigning blame.
Desirable development responds to a subtle equilibrium that translates to a lifestyle in harmony with nature, by leaning on technologies while preserving traditional know-how. From now on we will talk about alternative consumption rather than de-consumption.
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