RE-SHAPE YOUR LIFE from what you do, to where and how you live, to who you spend your time with. This is the overarching trend that will take center stage in 2022. It is not a generalization. It is an expression of a widespread need for total life revamp.
At first sight, this does not sound like new, nor a trend per-se. But think of what a trend really is: it is first and foremost placing a mood, through colour (red, yellow, blue and the many nuances), an attitude, through the “look” (grunge, pop, punk and myriads of others) or, a moral value, through a school of thought (wellness, minimalism, and all the hype that psychology holds today) at the top of the life-inspiring pyramid. Anything can be a trend as long as it has the power, scale and momentum to shape or inform the perspectives and actions of sufficient people at a moment in time.
Inundated by ideas and possibilities, our minds are now ripe with the excitement of change as opposed to the fear of it. Design only follows; in that it creates a time-capsule universe by giving all these important trends an aesthetic form and a visual framework.
Most trends of every time are, at their core, non-visual, yet they have an aesthetic expression. We often confuse that expression with the trend itself.
With such a bold proposition for 2022, the aesthetic form will be that of courageous colours, strong shapes, decluttered interiors, personally precious objects and carefully curated experiences that will all amount to the sophisticated luxury of the everyday.
People always did and always will want more than what they have, better things, more happiness, less pain and more pleasure. But in 2022 when the wounds of severed lifestyles are fresh in our minds as we have yet not healed, this will be the finest filter through which everything will be sifted.
When I was a child, I used to play a game with my cousin that now, thinking back, showed something about what I would become later on. And it still shows something about the changes that I find myself, together with millions of others, experiencing now. We used to play “battles”. I don’t think it actually had a name, but given that he is a boy and three years younger than me, each time, I excitedly got into it since it was not my normal play activity. We would spend a substantial amount of time setting up the troupes, the camps, the castles and fortresses all with these miniature figurines of which he had many. They came with horses and animals, homes and carts, walls and gardens, trenches and many other miniature props.
Once everything was set up, we would actually start to push the players around, pretend that they battle and die, talk for them in lengthy onomatopoeic conversations, pretend that portions of the castles fall, that an army takes over another. At some point quickly after this, my interest inevitably would start to wane and I would be ready to move on to another game way before he would have exhausted his want to play this one. And I always felt bad and tried to prolong it beyond the point where I was getting bored because I think I was feeling the responsibility of being the oldest. Not having siblings of my own, he was the closest I had at the time, and I did not want to disappoint.
As my career turned to architecture and interior design, I cannot but make the parallel between my childhood excitement of setting up imaginary worlds and the path I chose to take.
And now, statistics during the pandemic show that many people around the globe have paused and thought hard about their own life, about the path that they are on and if they’re happy about it or not. Out of those that pondered, many have decided to make changes. Some smaller, some larger, the important part is that re-evaluating is now a trend and a strong one.
In my life, like in that of many, the home and the social circle of family and friends have set a balance that now has been disrupted. As the social aspect shrunk, I turned my attention toward my home to compensate for the need for energy, closeness and, often, mindful recharging.
I believe that this was the main reason for which we’ve seen an increase in home remodelling. Yes, it was a direct result of an increase in time, but in my experience, time you ultimately make if you really want to.
In my professional world, which I now build with my imagination, the aesthetic expression of this exciting trend is unlike any before and I’m looking forward to applying fresh thoughts to the projects that will come my way in the Land of Dochia.
🥁 Announcing
If you want to see the video version of all the trends we carve and build in 2022 in the Land of Dochia subscribe here for the A-list coming up later in the year.
🗞 Next article
Written quarterly, the next trend article is coming up in March:
3 Lifestyle Trends for Spring of 2022
🔔 Related
Did you read or see any of my other Retrospectives and Predictions from this inaugural year? I suggest you start with…
Best of 2021 – from home rituals to healthy habits, design helps you live a better life