Helen’s Office Design Trend Predictions 2018

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Where has the time gone? It only seems like yesterday that we were making office design predictions for 2017. And what an up and down year it has been in the world (of workplace design).

Now that the New Year is upon us, here are my thoughts and predictions for the office design trends that we can expect to see in 2018.

While it’s more well-known within our industry by the term biophilic design, I predict that 2018 is going to be the year that brings nature into the workplace.

It’s especially topical given that our Design Assembly South Wales event in November 2017 featured an entire section on the subject from biophilia expert, Oliver Heath.

Even though I’m fully aware that the philosophy has been more frequently followed within architecture over the past couple of years I believe that it can sometimes take time for our industry to build confidence in ‘how to work’ a new style.

Supertree Grove in Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Today this design trend was reinforced by me opening the January 2018 edition of a well-known workplace interiors magazine to read an article about an office space that is combining gardens, natural light and a forest floor into the design.

Along with combining physical elements into a space, the plethora of surface finishes available to encourage us to create wonderfully inspiring interiors is vast.

Take Timorous Beasties for example, who used beautiful hues of green and blue within their Storm Blotch Wallpaper which can’t help but remind you of the sea…

Or Tres Tintas Barcelona who have created what can only be described as a ‘lush’ mural called Amazonia which doesn’t need explaining… get me a cocktail please as I want to be there!

And I can’t leave out the wonderfully exciting designs that are coming out from the Patternistas’ Studio with huge inspiration taken from some of the living things within our natural world.

I’m in no doubt that we will continue to see the use of the colour green.

Especially since Dulux’s colour forecast for 2018 predicts that a number of different shades will feature in our interiors this year.

My personal favourite of the colour trend groups is ‘Reflect’.

On an ending note, this colour combination particularly caught my eye.

I love the use of the rich green and pink.

This would work well with Dulux’s Colour of the Year 2018 ‘Heart Wood’.

Maybe a bit too sickly for some but classy given the right balance of pink in contrast to the green.  

Whatever your preferred workplace design trend this year, let’s make 2018 a fun one!

If you’d like to incorporate any of Helen’s office design trends and predictions into your workplace, get in touch with the team at Paramount.

Posted by Helen Bartlett on 3 January 2018 at 12:00 AM