New Luxury: What Materials Are Currently Considered Luxurious?
“Modern luxury is ,manifested through unobtrusive and smart things”, states Design Mate’s guest editors, founder of PHD — Philosophy of Design architectural bureau, Lana Grineva. Continuing with DM’s hot topic in December, which is the New Luxury, we decided to discuss with modern designers the current changes in the perception of luxury, the meaning of the word ‘luxury’ itself and finally the materials that are nowadays considered luxurious. It appears that the list of luxurious materials today remain virtually the same as in the past, although the approaches towards use of such materials have changed dramatically.
Lana Grineva architect, founder of architectural Bureau PHD – Philosophy of Design
Today, the new concepts of luxury in terms of finishing materials are based on naturalness, natural textures and surfaces. If we talk about wood, then the less chemic processing steps its texture is subjected to, the more natural and the more valuable it is considered. This also means freedom from glossy finishing and glazed surface. Another finishing trend is using natural stones like marble, sandstone, slate. If the space allows, we may use the stone cutting of generous size. As for the marble, here it is important to develop proper layout, where the marble fibers (veins) would compose a beautiful and the most importantly natural pattern. Depending on the marble finishing, you may end up with different fibre structures according to the project stylistic requirements, which makes the marble a multi-purpose material that perfectly fits in both classic and minimalistic interior.
Wood and marble in the interior, PHD — Philosophy of Design
Ekaterina Egorova Development Director at Fifth Avenue
The way I see it, today it is possible to distinguish two diametrally opposite concepts of luxury. The purpose of the first one is to demonstrate financial supremacy, so it is characterized by excessive use of expensive materials, a rush towards costly things and prestige brands on the edge of bad taste. Then there is other concept of luxury of completely different nature, I would call it the intellectual luxury. It is based on reserved elegancy. It does not mean that we cannot use expensive natural materials, such as natural stone, rare and even exotic sorts of timber, natural leather, brass, line, silk or cashmere. But these materials in our case are balanced with simple and clear objet shapes, reserved architectural and decorative solution. This is all to say, that in my personal opinion, the modern luxury means being closer to nature and a little bit of Zen.
Yana Svetlova designer, founder of the brand
Yana Svetlova Wallcoverings
The current fashion trend is subtle luxury. The interiors have become more intelligent with monochrome finishing materials, where active ornaments and patterns have gave up their place to interesting textures. At the same time, today we especially appreciate the fine connection with nature, its inimitable amazing beauty. Therefore, the exists a fashion to objects with unique natural form, like selective sorts of timber with unusual sawing or processing like, for example, burned timber. My collection of natural wall coverings titled Supreme reflects this philosophy of ‘true luxury of simple things’. I explored the topic of natural grass, shiny metal and elegant timber as immortal attributes of intellectual interior design. The collection features selection of unique materials, including, but not limited to sisal, abaca, linen, cotton, silk, bamboo, cork, isinglass stone and even wood veneers. Depending on the thickness of braiding, color and base metallization, such coverings may create completely different visual effects. Besides that, they are fully customizable, which is another recent trend. Modern luxurious interiors are now similar to the art object gallery. The value of things is now measured not by their monetary equivalent, but rather but their uniqueness: the customized items made on individual order now cost more than serially produced brand products.
Luxury has become personal again.
Wall coverings from the Supreme collection, Yana Svetlova Wallcoverings
Valeria Senkina designer, D'seesion bureau
The luxurious material are the essential components to place stake on when designing really premium, but at the same time relevant, timeless interior. The modern luxury is highest quality natural materials in their initial, minimally processed condition, rather than gold and expensive decorations. For example, it may be a natural timber of noble sorts combined with dull metal, elegant marble, leather, cotton velvet, linen or silk, Such combinations indicate the good taste of the owner and tend to preserve their relevance over time. Moreover, such interior will probable age in a beautiful manner, gaining an additional aesthetic depth with the course of time.
Marianna and Uliana Lomsinko product designers, founders of Sesstra studio
The concept of luxury in the world of object and interior design is highly diverse and subjective. We may observe how this concept transforms over time with development of technologies and change of artistic and cultural directions. Nevertheless, we consistently consider to be luxurious those materials, working with which you manage to preserve the feeling of touching with history. We enjoy working with contrast materials such as concrete and timber, since we draw inspiration for own collection from the Soviet era with its utility and solemn chastity.
FORMA-5 candlestick, Sesstra
But the most luxurious material for us is marble. The marble is something the designers will return to from season to season, since it is capable to contemporary design objects beyond recognition. This is the fine balance between the history, the quality, the unique textures and the diverse colors. Despite the reliability and durability of this material, the designers tend to use it for miniature interior design items more and more often. We consider the marble to be an attribute of luxury, elegancy and purity of forms.
