Advertisement
Just like the fashion industry, interior designers have always looked to other countries for décor inspiration. While we want to give you the latest, hottest design trends this can’t be done without a brief history lesson.
Rewind back to the early 90’s and elements of Chinese calligraphy were widely seen on fabrics and posters and divider screens were common in many African living rooms. As the country transitioned into the 2000s, Scandi and hygge décor dominated our homes but that is now being replaced by the clean and simple aesthetic of Japanese interior design.
Fast forward to 2022, and we’re still getting inspiration from abroad. This is according to research by The Secret Linen Store, a luxury bedding and homeware retailer based in the UK. They collated a list of 154 countries and compared the worldwide Google search volumes with the number of Pinterest boards, TikTok hashtag views and Instagram hashtags dedicated to each country’s interior design. These numbers were then combined to produce a total online and social score.
‘Our data shows that we will continue to take inspiration from other country’s décor for years to come, with over 25,000 Google searches for country-inspired décor occurring each month,’ says Molly Freshwater, co-founder of Secret Linen Store.
Advertisement
Insta worthy Japanese trends lead the way
Japan came out on top, with a combined score of over two million, thanks to ‘Japanese interiors’ garnering over 2.1 million TikTok views, 998 Pinterest boards and 2,900 monthly global Google searches.
The Asian country is at the root of the Japandi aesthetic, the newest and most popular interior trend, which combines the styles of Japanese and Scandinavian interior design. The hashtag #Japandi has had over 60 million views on TikTok, showing that there is a new generational interest in Japanese interior design, which at its core, is serenely minimalist.
‘It’s easy to see why Japan’s interior design came out top, as its principles align to how so many of us want our houses to be – light, airy and simple with no clutter. Japanese styling focusses on the balance between inside and outside and makes beautiful use of neutral colours and materials,’ adds Freshwater.
Other usual suspects plus a few surprises
Two obvious European countries that make the top five rankings are France, perhaps thanks to shows like Netflix’s Emily in Paris, and Denmark, which represents people’s ongoing interest in Scandinavian design (there were over 1.7 million online searches and social shares for ‘Danish interiors’ in 2022).
In stark contrast to this, is the bold pops of colour that is synonymous with Brazilian and Mexican décor, which come in fourth and fifth place.
If you need more inspiration you can view the full top twenty list of countries, and get more tips on how to achieve the top countries’ aesthetics.
