It’s the end of the year, and our homes are feeling cool, calm and full of those beautiful pieces we’ve collected over the last 12 months. They’re confident and considered, really representing our personal style in a way that’s time-proof and deeply personal. Don’t say the word ‘trend’ around here right now, it’s been about so much more than that. If last year was about eclecticism and experimenting, 2024 was when we put what we’d learned to good use and discovered ourselves along the way.

Twelve months ago, our homes were progressive but actually a bit all over the place, weren’t they? Yes, it was the year’s trends – sorry, ‘interiors phases’ shall we say – really faded into the background, and we began to think about what we really want, but in the transition things were a little bit mish-mashy. A taste of this, a sample of that – in 2023 we tried it all out, and 2024 was when we made our choices.

It’s the end of the year, and our homes are feeling cool, calm and full of those beautiful pieces we’ve collected over the last 12 months. They’re confident and considered, really representing our personal style in a way that’s time-proof and deeply personal. Don’t say the word ‘trend’ around here right now, it’s been about so much more than that.

If last year was about eclecticism and experimentation, 2024 was when we put what we’d learned to good use and discovered ourselves along the way. Twelve months ago, our homes were progressive but actually a bit all over the place, weren’t they? Yes, it was the year trends – sorry, ‘interiors phases’ shall we say – really faded into the background, and we began to think about what we really want, but in the transition things were a little bit mish-mashy. A taste of this, a sample of that – in 2023 we tried it all out, and 2024 was when we made our choices.

What was previously small vignettes of brave design has turned into overhauls of the entire home, each piece carefully curated and dedicated to that perfect, authentic, style. We’re not afraid of commitment in this house. The main difference to seasons gone by? What we’re showcasing now is very much our own choice, and we’re building our own aesthetic. Keeping up with the Joneses? They’ve got their own look going on, and it is very much not the same as ours – which is what makes it all so exciting.

Luxury design is now about sophisticated originality. While the iconic classics will always be the iconic classics, it’s the era of integrating exquisite, high-quality pieces into spaces in a way that’s expressive, as well as eternal. Think of it as a 1980s-esque resurgence of individuality, with a luxurious twist.

How to do it? Know what you like and don’t be afraid of it, but also consider each design choice thoughtfully. Each item or idea that joins your home should (to you) be perfect; a missing puzzle piece crafted by the finest makers on the planet that slots into place smoothly with your others while conveying its own personality.

Always loved green? Can’t stop stroking boucle? Constantly marvelling over marble? Now is the time to integrate it, as our favourite designer furniture brands are introducing designs that tick the never-go-out-of-style modern-heirloom boxes and which are also a little more eyebrow-raising than before – be it the beloved Florence Knoll sofa in vivid bottle green, a Ligne Roset Togo chair in soft, textured sage, or something new that’s a tad more risqué than before.

2024 has been the year of honest design – when our homes became sleek spaces presenting our elegant tastes and proud personalities. With tailored, forever relevant pieces speaking to our inner selves, we’ve embraced a balance of sophistication and self-expression. It’s not about following everyone else, or doing what we’re told we should do, but creating spaces that are both meaningful and perpetually personal while dusted with something a little unusual.

If 2024 stood for one thing, it was actually two things: utterly mouth-watering, jaw-dropping quality – not a stitch sewn out of place, pieces crafted from materials that are at the peak of top quality – and the confident ability to place items in our home knowing we’ll love them for a lifetime, but that not everyone will feel the same.

In the final chapters of 2024, the essence of sincere, one-of-a-kind design hovers all around, setting the tone for a future defined by thoughtful curation and unageing grace. Here, we discuss the year’s standout pieces that narrate the aesthetics carrying us gracefully into the next era of interiors.

A stand out piece from the year which exemplifies this refined, thoughtful, enduring-yet- creative mood, is the Collina sofa by de Sede Design-Team and Atelier Oï. Both proudly function-focused and a bold sculptural statement, the sofa is designed to fit into lively and dynamic homes, its innovative back rest segments able to move in all directions thanks to a newly developed patented design, meaning one moment you could be sitting facing the television, the next out of the window, the next ready for an intimate talk. Take it upholstered in Nougat, Sand, Teak or Whisky if the last 12 months has revealed your love of neutrals, or in a brighter RAL colour if it’s unleashed your wild side.

What this all means, is that when it comes into your home, the Collina can adapt to how you want to live, and even to how you think you might want to live. Life won’t be set in stone, instead one of the largest and most relied upon pieces of furniture will bring with it not only the prerequisite comfort, beauty and highest-level designer quality, but also a built-in sense of freedom. Freedom to feel one way today, a different way tomorrow. Freedom to bend and twist and rise and turn rather than being told how to relax. Freedom to not worry about the ‘what ifs’ and just trust the design process. It has a refined, inimitable, developed-over-time personality that says something special about its owner – 2024 summed up to a T.

Innovative technology meets one of our oldest yet most enduring materials in the Napoleon Keramik table. At the height of cutting-edge ceramic technology, it’s made with a previously unseen advanced modelling technique which makes design more flexible than ever. The material then seamlessly takes on the appearance of natural marble, in a selection of different finishes – such as the matt Invisible ceramic which is akin to a classic white marble with grey veins, the black with gold-veined Marmi matt Portoro ceramic and the soothing, gently swirling grey Colosseo, all in a range of interchangeable tabletop shapes (from oval and various rectangles to the asymmetric Polygon).

What does the Napoleon Keramik say about us? That we look forwards while embracing the natural. That we’re not afraid of mixing things up. That we appreciate timeless elegance with a modern twist. It’s a true representation of classic-meets- contemporary. With its graceful lines and thoughtful details, it’s a piece that speaks to our desire for simplicity and sophistication. The Napoleon Keramik table isn’t just a surface; it’s a conversation starter, a reminder of our shared appreciation for beauty, quality, and progress.

Nothing says I-walk-to-my-own-tune than a statement, directional, curiosity-piquing piece. The Archibald Bed doesn’t really feel like a bed. The characterful headboard folding around like the edges of paper or a gently curling leaf, it’s further enhanced by soft drapery that runs across its luxurious leather upholstery. Simultaneously familiar, safe, and inviting, it effortlessly combines design-led sophistication with chic elegance.

It’s the precise balance of innovation and intimacy that makes the Archibald Bed a truly standout piece. Jean-Marie Massaud’s design invites you to indulge in a specific type of beauty, one focused on those inside the bed rather than the outside world. The Archibald Bed wraps its inhabitants in a subtle, sleek embrace, blending function with a sense of artistry, and mixing good taste with the opinion-prompting originality. Is it what you were expecting? No? That’s just what we were hoping.

There’s something enchanting about the organic, free flowing nature of glass – so when it’s shaped into linear or geometric forms, our brains spark and stir. The Dome Light nods to classical Roman architecture and the sweeping curves of Venice in smooth or rippled glass, its angles precise and perfect as if ready to be built into a dreamlike glowing cityscape. This rigid structure is softened by the piece’s function – the light it emits is gentle and cast down through a diffuser, transforming the strict measurements into something more bewitching and transfixing.

It feels like it breaks the rules, a code, something we all agreed on. It’s at once fascinating and completely at home. Just like us, and the spaces we create, the Dome Light doesn’t demand attention, but it has the power to hold it. The way it balances classical inspiration against contemporary flair reminds us that even the most structured pieces can radiate warmth, softness, and a touch of magic. It’s less an object and more of a feeling – and we’re happy to bask in its warm radiance.

In a year zooming in on quality that’s the best of the best, a tribute to merino wool is satisfyingly fitting. Mayice Studio’s Lines collection for GAN is a sensory experience, inspired by the importance of touch and the thrill in the authenticity of the natural. The long-pile rugs come in the undyed woollen tones of White, Brown, Grey, Charcoal, and are a fusion of a direct connection to nature and a heavy dose of a minimal, contemporary style – however did our floors and feet and feelings cope without it?

The collection’s attitude? Calming, and harmonious, with a dash of out-there, oooo- that’s-interesting statement making. A dash is all we need – a sprinkle of the offbeat to demonstrate our distinct aesthetic and add uniqueness to the home in a way that’s real and everlasting. Perhaps we’ll follow the lines, perhaps we walk right though them all, that’s the brilliance of it – we’ll soak up the sublime merino softness whichever way we to choose to live. It’s an invitation to slow down, which is an offer we’ve been taking up all year. The result? A balance of sophistication and comfort, where every line feels intentional and inviting. Its zigzagging design reminds us of the most important lesson of all – to follow our own paths, or make our own direction up all together.

The new palette introduced on Knoll’s Bauhaus-era collections is a case in point to the 2024 aesthetic. The dousing of a piece of design history in a fresh palette signifies that change is coming, has arrived – and is important enough to alter the past for. Linking back to the palette of the Bauhaus, when the new White, Onyx, and Dark Red were introduced on the seminal MR Chair and MR Tables by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and for the I’d-recognise-that-anywhere Wassily Chair, Cesca Chairs and Stools, and Laccio Tables by Marcel Breuer, it was a sign to take note. Mies van der Rohe painted his chair frames in white and a deep red in the early years of the Bauhaus, while the black works with the red to reflect the school's iconic staircase.

"After seven decades of Knoll's Bauhaus classics being produced exclusively in chrome, seeing the pieces painted is like seeing them for the first time again" said the Brand’s Senior Vice President of Design Jonathan Olivares.

Adding white and black to a palette seem like a subtle change, but let’s not underplay it – these world-renown designs are cultural touchstones and have existed for since the 1920s in unadorned gleaming tubular steel. This is a big deal. And the red – while tapping into the burgundy-loving moment it also echoes through the ages, drawing a will-never-age Bauhaus shade into present day as well as sending it further forward. A design hero has refreshed itself in a way that’s opinion-inducing yet quietly understated and delicately discreet, the update truly reflecting the ethos of Year of the Design Aficionado/of Refinement. The makeover is a way to demonstrate a flavour in the home that’s utterly unchanging, trend-proof and tasteful, as well as unusual, interest-piquing and alluring. It indicates that from now on we want things to be a little different, not the same as they’ve always been, and certainly not the same as anyone else.