Insights into Interior Design: Designing in Style. Part V: Modern/Contemporary

Interior design has often been impacted by fashion trends – both historically and in the modern day. In this write-up series, “Designing in Style,” I explore the meaning of style for interior designers. I draw on my experience working alongside many of London’s greatest-known interior design teams. This fifth and final article in my series moves on from countryside styles to modern/contemporary – a main focus of the London Interior Design community today.

Modern or contemporary design is all about simplicity. Interior designers tend to focus on fresh, clean lines, together with easy colours and fundamental shapes like ideal circles and rectangles. But the question I hear again and again from my interior design students in London is, “How to make a contemporary/modern design fascinating and unique?” This can be a real challenge – interior designers usually want to give their clients something special, but within the constraints of extremely basic, virtually minimalist, design briefs, this can need some serious creativity!

My recommendation to interior design students is generally to use additional imagination in the details. In London, wealthy homeowners tend to be extremely focused on subtle extras. To add interest to a standard modern/contemporary scheme, the interior designer can contemplate highlights, trims or accents in the colour scheme. Even if 1 only has a monochrome palette to work with, perhaps a white piece of furniture would look stunning with a gorgeous bespoke black throw. Or maybe a hint of pink can be introduced into a grey tone to create a really “interior designer” look for a room? There are all sorts of possibilities, and in London’s most prestigious districts nowadays the most critical thing for interior designers to maintain in mind is that the label of “modern/contemporary” is just a guideline. If the client has a favourite piece of furniture or artwork that doesn’t quite fit the “modern/contemporary” label, use your interior design creativity to figure out techniques to incorporate it into a scheme. You genuinely can’t go wrong if your “modern/contemporary” design is unified and classy – and in London many clients are quite sophisticated, with an eye for beauty and detail. If their requirements are met, the interior designer has completed their job!

Well, that closes out my series on “Insights into Interior Design: Designing in Style.” Thank you so significantly for reading – I hope I have been able to give you some perspective on the numerous diverse styles that are and have been common with London’s interior design community over the decades.