This was published 4 years ago
Why comfort has proved king in interior design this year
David Clark has heard the word “pivot” one time too many this year. The creative director of homewares retailer Spence & Lyda thinks the term “pirouette” more appropriate. “Everything about this period demands we respond through creative change, and the way forward is to embrace the notion of small, local and handmade.”
The Spence & Lyda showroom, with an experimental wall-hanging using the felting skills of the creatives at Sydney’s The Happenstore.Credit: Prue Ruscoe
His sentiment chimes with that of the retailer’s founder Fiona Spence, especially when discussing its new premises in Sydney’s Waterloo. “There is still something compelling about walking into a space and apprehending a feeling,” she says. “Life is still a sensual experience. And in the home, that sensuality matters more than ever now.”
Indeed, the image above, captured in a light-filled section of the new store, encapsulates much of their shared aesthetic. The experimental wall-hanging, commissioned by Spence, uses the felting skills of the creatives at Sydney’s The Happenstore, while ceramics by Caroline Blackburn have the appearance of beautiful relics.
These raw elements give the star of the show, the Inntil sofa by Missoni Home, an even greater opportunity to show off its corded velvet curves. (It is less crumpled geography professor’s suit and more sensuous Italian dressing gown.) Spence acknowledges that Missoni fabrics are often associated with colourful patterns, whereas this quieter textile gives a different perspective. “Our hope is that houses stop being regarded as pieces of real estate and are seen as true places of comfort.”
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