Changes in society are blurring the lines between how we live, work and enjoy leisure time and this will become a major driver of kitchen and bathroom design trends, according to a study by Formica.
The ‘Blurred Spaces’ concept says that technology and changing habits mean that design must accommodate all aspects of our lives as they merge into one.
Other drivers such as an ageing population, concern for the environment and technology are all playing a big part in this blurring and it is affecting the traditional lines many manufacturers have between residential and commercial product development.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Kitchen & Bathroom Design Podcast from kbbreview publisher Taylist Media, Formica’s UK design manager Nina Bailey (pictured) said it was a trend they had seen developing for some time.
“Over the past five years, the design teams we have across our regions have started to see these trends cross over, it would usually be really obvious what the differences were between going to big commercial exhibitions compared to big residential shows,” Bailey said. “But we started to see that the trends were consistently starting to merge between the two.”
An obvious example is the blurring of the lines between the traditional kitchen and a living space that incorporates working from home, but another factor is the blurring of home and leisure spaces.
“People are bringing the gym into their homes so, for example, in high end residential designers are bringing in areas to work out or do yoga,” Bailey said. “The home is becoming such a hub for everything so for exercising, working, relaxing, playing and socialising so the space has to be even more adaptable than ever and that’s the challenge for the designer.”
You can hear the full interview with Nina Bailey on the Kitchen & Bathroom Design Podcast. Click on the link to listen.
There are nearly 25 episodes of the Kitchen & Bathroom Design Podcast to binge on, simply go to podcast.kbbreview.com to see the run down or search ‘kitchen and bathroom design’ in your podcast app and subscribe.