What Is Hygge & Why Everyone Is Talking About It

In times of uncertainty, cocooning and homing are the megatrends around the globe, with our homes becoming a place of retreat. It’s exciting to see how interior designers and furnishing consultants are implementing this new trend, because the new cosiness has nothing to do with dusty old furniture and bourgeois homeliness. On the contrary, this personal furnishing style is based on our own mood, the state of our inner feelings and individual preferences.

Those who look for peace and quiet and wish to get away from the hectic stress of the world in their own living room may well decide for a highly reduced, purist furnishing style featuring natural colours and materials, together with clean-lined furniture. Authentic materials like wood, glass and metal are very much at home in such a meditative furnishing oasis.

We caught up with international furnishing giant, KARE, to reveal their top 3 trends, apart from Hygge, that are taking over the world of home décor in 2017.

After years of restraint in every imaginable shade of grey, we believe that furniture lamps and accessories can now let their hair down a little. In other words, those who feel like showcasing their apartment movie style will feel right at home with KARE’s new “GLAMROCK” furnishing world.

This contains extensive elements of gold and brass, combined with discrete grand hotel glamour which ensures that the ambience has the right dose of glitter. This furnishing trend combines references to furniture design from the fifties to the seventies with the matt reflections of console tables and sideboards, deep velvety armchairs, retro sofas and Plexiglas footstools covered in synthetic fur. Surprising touches are provided by striking decorations such as ‘Jane’, the seated plastic gorilla, or the colourful pair of XXL parrots called ‘Sissi and Franz’.

Mirrors from a fairy-tale world of enchantment and amusing small articles of furniture add playfulness and an element of humour to the home. Few brands can match KARE when it comes to furnishing design with a touch of fun.

At the Cologne furniture fair visitor favourites are, for example, their animal umbrella stands for the hall. The White Rabbit from “Alice in Wonderland” looks out from the upholstery of a neo-baroque armchair, while a cat wearing the expression of the famous ‘Grumpy Cat’ serves as the base for a table. Dressers from the ‘Fun Factory’ series consist of lots of different colourful elements, as if thrown together by goblins.

Why do we need a vitalizing touch of green in every room? Green represents life and nature and generates positive feelings such as calm and security. In other words, it’s a perfect match for the major furnishing trend of 2017.

A spring-like shade of green has also been named Pantone's Colour Of The Year (2017). And with their green fingers, KARE's creative spirits demonstrate that they have just the right flair for the new 2017 trends.