The reasons why we don't follow trends

At the start of the year it’s the norm in our industry to announce the trends for the year ahead; the colours to paint your walls with; the patterns pipped to be the most popular; the rules to follow when it comes to design (are feature walls in now? Or not? We’ve lost track…).

That's not our style here at Woodchip & Magnolia, and here are our reasons why…

It’s all about marketing
We don’t want to patronise our customers; we believe you’re a pretty clued up bunch and know by now that the trends fed to us each season are nothing but a marketing ploy to reel you in to buy buy buy (and then buy buy buy again in a years time when the trend has come and gone). We don’t want to run our business this way. Instead, we believe in designing from the heart; working on our gut feelings and not the latest trend predictions, to bring you products that will spark joy and withstand the test of time.

It’s not sustainable
We’re all about being as sustainable as we can be and following trends doesn’t sit right with our ethos. Interiors trends come in cycles and redecorating our homes every time a new trend comes along doesn’t sound very eco-friendly or sustainable to us. We believe in designing and creating quality products that will last for years (if not forever!), and not adding to or encouraging today’s throwaway culture.

It’s a bit overwhelming
It can feel quite overwhelming to keep up with the latest trends when really, interior design should be a natural and easy decision based on your own unique personality and style; not what the media or large companies dictate to you in order to line their own pockets.

Trends can result in carbon copies
When everyone reports on the same trends and everyone buys into the same trends, it results in everyone's homes looking like the same trends. For this reason, trends will not bring you satisfaction. If everyone's homes look the same, it’s bound to get boring. You’ll just want to redecorate again when a new trend comes along.

We want to celebrate individuality
We believe we should all be designing our homes to suit its own unique architecture, as well as our own unique style. We want our wallpapers, murals, fabrics and paint colours to spark joy every time you catch a glimpse, and to make you feel at home in your own home. Interior design shouldn’t be about what’s ‘in’ or not, or about changing our decor every time a new trend comes along. Instead it should be about reflecting our own personal tastes and decorating according to our homes architecture and nature.

Back to basics
We believe in keeping traditional design skills and techniques alive for future generations of designers. Trend patterns are slowly killing off the beauty of creativity, whereas we're all about getting back to basics with drawing and painting; mixing colours the traditional way and taking our inspirations from the world around us, and not from what others are doing and then copying it.

Combining traditional design skills and craftsmanship with digital technology is what we believe makes us so unique, and we're not about to change our ways for the sake of a short-lived trend. We love to dip into our ever-growing archive whilst also adding new artwork weekly and thus keeping these traditional design skills and techniques alive.

We're here to encourage individuality and celebrate uniqueness, and if you’re struggling with inspiration, get in touch with us; we’d love to help!