Nature Inspired Design: Spring Trends from High Point Market 2015

Spring showers may bring flowers, but do you know what is even better than spring flowers? Nature inspired design as seen at the High Point Spring 2015 show. Nature— geodes, reclaimed wood, organic forms, and even golden insects—made an appearance all over the showroom floor. For all of you interior designers in Connecticut, here are the highlights of natural design at the High Point Spring 2015 show.

Solid as a Rock

The appearance of stone in interior design is no longer relegated to the simple granite counter top; imagine your home bedecked in geodes, calcified wood, and stone. Geological formations are being used for everything from art on display to coffee tables and lamps. If you are looking to bring a bit of the natural world into your interior design but cannot keep a house plant alive, volcanic rocks and minerals are the way to go. With geodes you can add an extra pop of color—choose from a selection of rich purples, blues, and stunning reds. If you are interested in a more muted or neutral color palette, petrified wood is an interesting choice and each segment is absolutely unique; you will never find another table that looks exactly like yours. Carpets and window treatments often have interesting geological patterns, like this carpet that looked like the crust of the Earth complete with fault lines.

Leather

Whether rough and raw or smooth and refined, leather was all over the High Point Market this spring. Area rugs were fashioned from large cow hides—many of them were left naturally rough, but there were also some elaborately decorated hides with filigree and flecks of gold and silver. There were traditional leather couches, chairs, and coffee tables, as well as the slightly fun and funky accents of leather like these fuzzy picture frames.

Natural Glamour

Nature went golden glam at High Point this year; imagine if King Midas were to walk around the forest turning everything to gold so designers all across the land could fill beautiful rooms with shinning bugs and branches. We saw golden butterflies encased in glass, pewter tree branches transformed into sofa legs, and silver antlers that twist and turn into candle sticks. Speaking of natural glamour, this cow hide became the epitome of glam with a healthy dose of silver and a sconce pressed into the design.

Wood

Reclaimed wood was everywhere at Market this spring. As a design element, wood has the ability to add to a room with uniquely beautiful knots and grainy imperfections. Barn wood, drift wood, logs, and pallets can all be used to add a little taste of country living to an interior design. A panel of wood boards became rustic decor when it was used to form a canvas with a painting of a horse. Drift wood was used to sculpt two ballerinas, complete with buns on top of their heads. There was even a beautiful piece of faux wood, formed into painted branches topped with sculptural cherry blossoms and sealed inside a coffee table.

Surprising Textures

One of the most fun ways designers were incorporating natural elements into their displays was through texture—pillows that replicated the petals of a flower, chairs that were sleek like a wolf, and leather that was woven to feel like a snake skin. These textures add a bit of surprising whimsy and dimension to a design space.