Is There Anything New in Furniture Design?

Is There Anything New in Furniture Design?

After just returning from Sydney, Australia visiting the Australian International Furniture Fair, my answer is a big NO!

I don’t know about you but I am so bored with copies of original 20th Century Furniture Designers. They may now have a different leg, or a slightly narrower arm but the original design concept is nothing new. Have we gone as far as we can go with contemporary furniture design?

furniture design

Every now and again I see students pushing boundaries to create a piece of furniture art, a new chair, marketable and saleable? Unfortunately not, but I think it is great that students have the passion and desire to want to make history. I just wish the manufacturers would jump on board and get in behind the young designers of today. They may be already somewhere out there, if anyone knows of any programs, let me know and I will promote them, because I really would love to see some innovative and inspirational pieces of furniture become available to us.

As for the furniture I saw in Sydney, if it wasn’t for the wonderful new fabrics, they all looked the same as last year and the year before.

I better write here, that this is my opinion only, and I have access to New Zealand and imported furniture designs and I see what international stores sell online. I don’t mind being told that I am wrong and talking a load of rubbish. If anyone can prove that there are new and innovative furniture designs out there then please let me know and I can then spread the word and make every other designers life a brighter place!

So I dare you, prove me wrong!

If you want to look at classic 20th Century furniture designs and learn about the furniture designers and their creations then visit modern furniture designers

If you want to take your learning further – WillowCollege.com’s Interior Design course covers modern furniture designers and 20th century furniture – go take a look.

Color Consultant course

6 thoughts on “Is There Anything New in Furniture Design?”

  1. Hi Lee,

    I went to the AIFF as well and I can so relate to your article! I was researching content for the independent online style guide: http://www.mecho.com.au

    I was utterly bored with the fair except for The Edge, the student area. As I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures inside, I am now waiting patiently for a reply on a request for press photos for a feature of the students work. In the meantime, I was actually planning to vent on the site in similar fashion and is stoked that you just wrote what was on my mind! We try to do our best to post up sticky content on our site. If you wish to receive updates, sign up for the free newsletter. Stay in touch! 🙂

  2. Being new to the world of interior design but being a life-time observer I would have to agree. But isn’t anything an evolution of what came before? What I do see if a change in scale – thankfully for those of us city-dwellers who live in scaled-down spaces.

  3. I agree. My small company, 1 Call Interior Services mainly focuses on more traditional mainstream style furniture BUT, I have to say that the major trends out there are not for something completely new but for rehashing the “fathers” designs. In fact I have seen an increase in people buying vintage furniture to get it “modernized” by re upholstering it. Well those are my two cents.

  4. There are manufacturers in Australia getting behind new young fresh designers with innotive flair and creative furnitue concepts. One such company is GCF, Gregory Commercial Furniture, they run a design competition for budding designers. The Creative Vibes 2007 competition was open for lounges, a young sydney designer winning with his “freestyle” lounge. GCF flew the finalists to their factory in NZ and walked through prototyping and put the lounge into production. I personally have not seen a lounge like it nor have i seen a lounge with the capabilities that the Freestyle has to incorporate lighting/data in to the functional arm. GCF is just one company supporting young designers and giving them a platform to promote new and innotive furniture design.

  5. Dear Lee, I’m an american designer living and working in China. The stlye of the younger generation hear is unlike any I’ve seen in the world. It’s so creative! I feel so lucky to a designer from the west living east. I believe there’s a wave coming…

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