The Future of Interior Design – How, and How Much, Will It Change?

Too bad Nostradamus moved to the Great Beyond some 450 years ago. Had he been more contemporary, he might have been able to give us some clues to the future of interior design, luxury furnishings, and business in general. (A few thoughts about online marketing would have been super helpful too!) Alas, we must instead rely on our own experience, knowledge of human nature, and guidance from industry experts.

For the latter, we offer you this link to an article at BusinessOfHome.com, which examines (predicts) what the industry will (may?) look like a decade from now.

Before going there, however, we feel the need to mention our own predictive blogging on the subject of changes in the short term, here and here.

While these posts focus on the ways that doing business will likely change following our recent health crisis, the article mentioned above addresses the probable evolution of the design industry. This is just the first in a three-part examination of upcoming design business trends from the folks at BoH, so we hope to offer more soon.

Long Term Design Industry Changes

For now, the article is devoted to the thoughts of people who predict trends for a living:

“Our crystal-ball gazers are Brian David Johnson, the futurist-in-residence at Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination; Dror Poleg, a consultant and the author of Rethinking Real Estate: A Roadmap to Technology’s Impact on the World’s Largest Asset Class; and Piers Fawkes, an innovation consultant and the founder and president of consumer research agency PSFK.”

Familiarity Will Not Breed Contempt – By nature, human beings are habitual in their behaviors and environments, resisting change for the comfortable and familiar. This means that despite the inevitable technological advancements we will undoubtedly see in the future, home designs will remain largely consistent. Too much change coming too quickly leads to stress and uneasiness, which most tend to avoid.

Still, making an impression online will be even more important moving forward. Although innovation will generate interest as it always has, things that roam too far outside the box will get little play.

“I tell my students that if you walk out your front door and it looks like it did on The Jetsons, that’s a nightmare. We don’t want our homes to change all that much.” (Johnson)

Personal Space Becomes More Valuable – For many, their recent experiences with stay-at-home orders and working remotely will have a profound effect on how they view their personal spaces. According to the article, this trend was developing before the restrictive regulations in response to the pandemic, and have only been reinforced by them

In other words, “The manipulation of space will become more important, and furniture will get more and more multifunctional.” (Fawkes)

As will a designer’s ability to deliver value: “So in a world like this, the ability to capture more profit shifts to the design of a space, the sales experience, the unique components, all of that. Long story short: Interior design is becoming increasingly a driver of the value of a building, and that will continue to be the case.” (Poleg)

People-Focused Design Becomes Ever More Important – As mentioned above, technology intrigues everyone, interior designers, and homeowners included. Yet, no matter how advanced it becomes, it will never replace relationships between human beings. That means, “Interior design isn’t really just about designing the interior of a home. It’s about people and solving their problems… [so it] isn’t going to be done by robots and artificial intelligence.” (Johnson)

Even more telling, “The profession will still exist, but I think interior designers may need to develop another layer of technical sophistication to understand what people’s desires are for their homes. They may need to go from ‘This is wallpaper that looks nice’ to ‘This is wallpaper that looks nice and blocks Wi-Fi signals and protects digital privacy’.” (Fawkes)

As much as people resist change, the natural evolution of all aspects of life forces us to deal with it. This is as true in business as it is for life in general. Though predicting the future is difficult, experience and recognition of current trends can offer direction. This makes predicting the future of interior design critical to your success, whether you are resistant to change or not.

While he’s not in the same league as Nostradamus (and doesn’t claim to be), Ted continues to offer business consulting support to interior designers and furnishing store owners. With more than 25 years’ experience in the luxury furnishings industry, and through all sorts of economic crises and natural disasters, he should be able to help you get ready for your future.

To get in touch with Ted, or for more design business tips, trends, and marketing ideas… Get in touch with TD Fall today.