Rules of styles In Modern Design
Something that’s going to blow your mind literally.
Contemporary as something like a new modern and futuristic look design, but contemporary started from the old design.
To understand the rules of styles in modern design, we have to jump into history for a second.
The contemporary design has its roots as far back as, like, 1875 mid-1800s, Which kind of seems crazy because we were in the middle of the Victorian era.
The real deep roots of contemporary started with some paradigm-shifting movements that came out of the early Industrial Revolution.
In the 1870s, Arts and Crafts movement started, Look at this space, and this was a movement that wanted to bring back the idea of artisanal craftsmanship.
It was a movement against industrial design.
But you can see it still feels like it has some roots in traditional, for sure, you had Art Nouveau, starting merely a decade later, a total shift from that.
All of a sudden, you have sensuous lines.
Look at the curve on this staircase, or the trim, inside this room.
It’s sensual, and it’s a beautiful look different feel. Then we move on to the workshop.
Oh my gosh, these guys started to get serious, a movement against Art Nouveau everything straight line, you had Joe’s apartment.
About 1903, US Department and his cronies began working with straight lines grids as decor.
Everything was starting to move into this very sort of stylish, modern statement, and Art Deco traces its roots directly to the worksite.
You had a real connection with what was going to come later from those guys.
The 800-pound gorilla that completely changed our entire world was the Bauhaus school.
This was started by Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe in 1919 if you can imagine, and it went all the way to 1933, and these guys were taking industrial technology and creating furnishings and decor with it.
They were changing perception. It was a paradigm shift.
This is the Bruneau chair.
It’s a cantilevered steel seat.
Now, we would readily use this in a project today.
I’ve sat in them, used them a lot, but this was designed in the 20s by these guys.
Imagine, think of somebody from the Victorian era, coming in and sitting in this chair; they probably thought it was magic.
But they took the technology coming out of the industrial design and applied it to the decorative arts.
They were the bridge that took us out of that period and gave us things like skyscrapers.
The most magnificent chair in the world, the Barcelona chair, changed the game and everything else that’s come since started with them.
So now that we know how we got from this Victorian to contemporary, what is modern style?
Well, it’s an enormously broad category, And these days, it’s influenced by everything from like tech to globalism.
You’ve got all kinds of influences happening.
A couple of these subcategories fall under contemporary.
It’s so broad. For instance, you have minimalism, a spare clean.
California beach casual little hip, but very contemporary.
For sure, move straight out of the Vienna Burke’s shot and landed here glam Hollywood Regency rich colors, think deco 20s 30s All of that global traveler’s collectors.
Mid Century Modern that came out of this took a little bit of a natural woods turn.
However, it’s still definitely contemporary scandi kind of win there and blond woods, solid, modern, rustic, contemporary working in a little bit of that industrial vibe.
Contemporary even pop maximalism, this one’s just crazy off the charts, But it’s sitting in the contemporary zone.
So now I know that’s a lot of looks, it’s a broad range, but if one of these made your heart sing, then that’s your style; that’s what’s resonating for you.
Understand how to put that for your space, and there are a couple of rules to follow:
In contemporary design, your lines are clean
The first thing we’re going to look at is your lines in contemporary your lines are clean, simple, you can either do straight or organic, for instance, this is a beautiful space, and notice that they’ve done this clean, sharp fireplace or element there.
Then in front of it, the sofa has this lovely soft curve to it.
So that’s a great contemporary combination of lines or this other space that has this lovely plinth, almost, coffee table, and then it’s got these groovy tiny curved smaller seats in the brown leather, that’s fantastic.
Contemporary once minimal ornamentation on your elements, and you’re focusing on shape.
Mass form and texture to be those things that speak and blend.
How do I choose a color palette for a modern home?
Super crucial with this one, It can be monochromatic like this space, absolutely gorgeous, very contemporary, spotless.
But still warm and soft and inviting, and you can do it in neutrals, or you can do it in a solid, intense color like this fabulous one with the steel fireplace.
Only two or three colors in there, and they don’t get busy with it. That’s also very contemporary.
They’ve done this one with just a little pop of yellow in it; perfect.
lost the patterns
Contemporary styling is all about the texture stories, and you can create that, either through color statements or through actual physical textures.
For instance, I love this space that has the deeply grooved carpet that’s yummy and chunky, and then it’s paired up against this gorgeously high gloss veneer piece above the fireplace. That’s amazing.
Keep a single focal point
What creates a focal point in a Modern design?
This is supercritical in contemporary. Because contemporary is about spareness, it is about texture and more subtle stories than having many patterns and having a lot of ornamentation that makes you look around.
A single focal point, and you can do it some ways. It can be a single piece of artwork or an architectural statement.
This is how, but it’s impressive; I love that piece in there, so that’s both color and a single piece of artwork handling the focal point.
Look at this fireplace, with the stacked stone and the asymmetrical mental level.
It’s a great focal point for that space, or your focal point can even be an architectural statement if you’ve got maybe a fabulous view, or big windows or something that can be a look at this thing.
Oh my god is one whole wall that’s nothing but glass out to that beautiful view, but they’ve played around with the different pieces that are in the space like that slick, beautiful blue glass table sitting up against a bit of return poof that’s so fun, and a big texture play.
Keeping the focal point on the glass, though, So then everything else just kind of works as a supporting player in the statement.
Contemporary spaces are clutter-free zones
You see stacks of books and crappy papers sitting around in this stuff.
No contemporary is super clean in that direction.
Some great vendors out there carry great contemporary pieces because there’s a lot to choose from.
Think about some modern classics, for instance, and you could sort places like interior icons to Crate and Barrel, or Westown anthropology has some fascinating and global pieces.
local Home Stores like Goodwill can have some fabulous pieces that someone just isn’t using anymore, and maybe needs just a little sippy little repository job or something,
And suppose you’re looking for artwork, and you should be, In that case, it’s a super important decor element.
So guys, If you want to do something in the contemporary category, you’ve got those four rules. Clean lines, color palettes, lose your patterns, and make sure you focus on your focal point.
