5 Design And Decoration Materials Trending Right Now

Humans have been beautifying their interiors for thousands of years. Improving the space in which you live and work is a fundamental human desire. It is a creative exploration and exploitation of the natural world and its material journeys and mutations. 

Interior design is a field that never stands still. Crazes come and go and often reflect the fears and desires of the society surrounding them. As design trends come and go, certain materials gain prominence. Suppose you are consulting with an interior designer about refitting your house or building a space from scratch. They will likely pull out a scrapbook with some of these materials inside. These metals, stones, plasters, and composite materials are all the rage, making it easy to see why. 

Terrazzo 

Terrazzo is a compound material made of chipped marble or stone set in a cement or polymer liquid, which is then allowed to harden. The first recognizable use of terrazzo was in the floors of Venetian palaces in the 18th Century. Terrazzo flooring was subsequently known as 'Venetian flooring' in some Italian design circles.

The versatility of terrazzo flooring means that it is experiencing a big comeback in interior design. Terrazzo can be made with all sorts of stone, not just marble. This means that there are plenty of fascinating terrazzo-based floor and tile designs that use contrast as a focal theme. The complexity of a high-contrast terrazzo can bring a room to life. 

Tadelakt 

Tadelakt is a decorative plaster that originated in Morocco's Marrakesh region – with its constituent ingredients sourced from the nearby Atlas Mountains. The word Tadelakt means 'massage' in Arabic, which might give you some clue as to how the plaster is applied. It is entirely waterproof and long-lasting, explaining the current trend of decorating bathrooms and wet rooms using this material.

Tadelakt was first used back in the 11th Century when Berber cisterns were lined with versatile lime-based plaster to stop them from leaking. It wasn't long before the material's decorative properties were realized, and riad exteriors began to be adorned with a coating of tadelakt. Today, specialists like the London-based Decor Tadelakt apply the material in multiple layers to create a complex, stonelike appearance.

Rattan 

Rattan is wooden wicker, often made with bamboo or willow. 

Austrian art deco designer Paul Frankl is often credited with bringing rattan into the world of interior design. His elegant chairs used wicker rattan to create beautifully curved shapes that had the power to make sense of space and freedom in a room. His plans are now rare and expensive, but his mark has been felt in modern design far beyond his work's proliferation. Rattan is often used as a design and decorative material in rooms where cooling is imperative. Rattan is terrific at keeping a room cool. Bamboo weave rattan is perfect for cooling and can be used to decorate entire walls! The ancient Egyptians first developed rattan. 

Copper

Copper is a stunning and versatile metal that is seeing a resurgence in use in interior design. The rise of industrial and neo-industrial design has seen an increase in the use of burnished copper. Industrial design usually calls for exposed piping and fittings, and copper is one of the most elegant and easy to maintain materials for creating these features. Its dark brown shine works exceptionally well with exposed brick.

Copper also patinates beautifully. Patination is when metal changes in texture and tone through age, microbial colonization, and plant growth. Copper patination is complex and endlessly variable. Oxidization can bring out blue-green tones in copper that contribute to the dark brown of the metal wonderfully. 

Marble

Some things never really go out of style. Marble, a metamorphosized limestone with a streaky and wavey appearance, was first popularized in ancient Greece. It is still widely used to decorate luxurious interiors. Perhaps its association with classical elegance is what has kept marble in the limelight. More likely, it is the physical properties of the material itself that have owned it relevant. Marble has a high degree of transparency for stone. This means that light can penetrate several millimeters below the surface, giving it a lifelike appearance. It is a relatively soft stone that is very resistant to shattering – making it the perfect material for sculpting decorative features.