INTERIORS / 2026–27
A new idea of calm — with more colour, gloss, craft and contrast.
Japandi became the universal language of good taste: pale timber, low furniture, linen, a handmade bowl and almost no colour. Its appeal was real, but repetition flattened the idea into a formula.
The next version keeps the discipline, tactility and respect for space. What changes is the emotional temperature. Colour becomes deeper, lacquer interrupts the matte surfaces, furniture carries architectural weight, craft grows stranger and empty space becomes deliberate rather than unfinished.
Each chapter below adds one new layer to the rooms before it. The final interior is not a rejection of Japandi. It is what happens when the style stops trying to disappear.
All interiors are AI-generated editorial visualisations, informed by the cited 2026 collections, launches and forecasts. Product references are inspirational unless an exact piece is explicitly identified.
01
The first shift is also the easiest to live with: calm no longer has to mean colourless. These are grounded, mineral shades rather than decorative accents. Start with one enveloping colour and keep the furniture materially quiet.
BENJAMIN MOORE / COLOUR OF THE YEAR 2026
An espresso brown with charcoal notes, Silhouette replaces pale beige as the room’s quiet envelope. Used across an uninterrupted matte wall, it gives familiar cream linen and warm timber more definition without asking the furniture to perform.
BEHR / COLOUR OF THE YEAR 2027
Grounded moves olive into a warmer, browner register. Across the whole dining room it acts as a natural neutral, giving walnut, aged leather, paper light and a faded rug greater depth while the broad matte walls keep the composition calm.
GRAHAM & BROWN / COLOUR OF THE YEAR 2027
Inspired by the mineral pigments of Italian clay, Rose Earth is warmer and more grounded than conventional pink. In the bathroom, the matte rose-clay wall becomes more distinct against pale limestone flooring and a restrained dark-walnut accent.
02
Now keep the colour, but change the finish. Lacquer returns as a precise interruption inside softer rooms: one plane, one door or one built-in element. Gloss should sharpen the interior, not turn it into a showroom.
ONE REFLECTIVE PLANE
A black lacquered ceiling gives the paprika-coloured living room a darker horizon and reflects light without introducing another object. Timber, linen and stone remain matte, so the contrast stays controlled.
THE SMALLEST HIGH-IMPACT MOVE
A single golden door becomes graphic punctuation inside a graphite room. Because the surrounding walls, upholstery and timber stay quiet, the gloss reads as an intentional layer rather than a decorative effect.
GLOSS AS A BUILT-IN SURFACE
Deep green lacquer brings changing daylight into the kitchen while the dining table, chairs and floor preserve the warm timber foundation. Reflection is concentrated in the cabinetry, not spread across the whole room.
03
The third layer changes scale. Keep the deeper colour and controlled gloss, then add one piece with enough presence to organise the whole room. Sofas become landscapes, tables act like small buildings and chairs establish a repeated rhythm.
INSPIRED BY MINOTTI / ORION 2026
A modular sofa no longer sits politely against one wall. Its low interlocking volumes divide the room, direct movement and create several ways to sit while the brown envelope and one lacquered door preserve the earlier layers.
THE NEW CENTREPIECE
Here the base carries the idea: intersecting dark planes support a quieter stone top and give the dining room a clear centre of gravity. Familiar timber chairs keep the gesture usable rather than monumental.
INSPIRED BY MOLTENI&C / CORSETTO
A lean chair can still carry authority when its silhouette is repeated. Against the long library wall, the sequence of timber, leather and curved upholstery produces rhythm without adding another oversized object.
04
The familiar limewashed wall is no longer enough on its own. Keep colour, gloss and stronger furniture, then give one wall physical depth. The new surface has a reason: it extends the kitchen, holds the bed or frames the desk.
INSPIRED BY PATRICIA URQUIOLA / MOSSO FOR CIMENTO
The mineral wall runs behind the working zone instead of appearing as an isolated decorative panel. Its shallow movement catches daylight across a large surface while dark walnut cabinetry keeps the kitchen grounded.
TIMBER AS ENVELOPE
Full-height walnut panelling absorbs the headboard, bedside storage and lighting into one continuous plane. The result feels substantial without requiring more furniture, while the restrained red door carries forward the earlier colour layer.
INSPIRED BY MUTINA / EMISFERI
In the study, a field of rounded terracotta modules turns small changes in daylight into shadow and movement. The palette remains controlled; depth, rather than pattern, gives the wall its presence.
05
Aluminium is the deliberate disturbance. Its coolness makes timber feel warmer, clay colours richer and woven surfaces softer. The rule is simple: one cold note per interior.
INSPIRED BY NM3 × VISIONNAIRE
The aluminium chaise is the room’s only major cold note. A dark-walnut coffee table restores warmth at the centre, while the plaster, textiles and timber remain matte and tactile.
INSPIRED BY RIMOWA × LEHNI
A restrained aluminium bench and storage element bring the precision of luggage engineering into a timber-lined entry. Their narrow profiles keep the metal present but never dominant.
THE MOST LIVEABLE VERSION
A slim brushed-aluminium band gives the cinnamon sofa a sharper outline without adding another metal object. Used as a detail rather than a mass, the colder material heightens the softness around it.
06
Craft remains central, but reverence gives way to experimentation. Traditional techniques are enlarged, reshaped and merged with architecture, giving the room a visible human hand without nostalgia.
CRAFT X TECH / TOKAI 2026
Inspired by Grid Unwoven, the hand-made Mino washi screen is stretched to architectural scale. Its open weave filters light and separates the dining room without closing it.
INSPIRED BY DAVID/NICOLAS × DE GOURNAY
Instead of a framed textile, dimensional embroidery wraps the bedroom wall and changes with the light. The craft is immersive, while the bed and surrounding furniture stay deliberately restrained.
CRAFT X TECH / FUSHI
Mino Yaki ceramic modules form a functional console rather than a decorative vessel. Their deep green glaze gives the entry one concentrated note of colour and a surface that visibly records the hand.
07
One object should make the reader look twice: furniture, sculpture, packaging or raw material? In a real home, one such anomaly is enough. Its job is not to match, but to disturb the category.
ISSEY MIYAKE × ENSAMBLE STUDIO
Compressed paper becomes a log-like bench and table with the visual mass of timber or stone. The unfamiliar material gives the quiet living room its single moment of productive uncertainty.
HANNES PEER × SEM CORE
The carved cabinet reads almost like a geological fragment placed inside the home office. Solid wood is allowed to feel heavy, irregular and structural rather than reduced to a polite veneer.
WALLPAPER* DESIGN AWARDS 2026
Jacques Monneraud’s vessels imitate taped corrugated cardboard so convincingly that the domestic object becomes a visual trick. The gesture is witty, but its earthy surface still belongs naturally in the room.
08
The final layer is not another object, but a decision about what remains open. A richly furnished room can still preserve a deliberate pause, giving every stronger material enough space to register.
SPACE AS THE CENTREPIECE
The seating is complete, but it does not consume the centre. The open area improves movement and allows the deeper colour, tactile furniture and crafted details to be read as a composition.
MICRO-ZONING
A generous corridor between dining and living is not leftover floor area. It creates a clear transition, preserves long views and lets both furnished zones feel calm without becoming sparse.
THE FINAL SYNTHESIS
Colour, controlled gloss, architectural furniture, a dimensional wall, a trace of metal, experimental craft and one unexpected object are all present. The open space is what stops any single idea from shouting.
Do not replace the Japandi room. Give it a stronger point of view.
KEEP THE CALM. ADD THE FRICTION.
Begin with one deeper wall colour. Add gloss to a single architectural surface. Choose one piece of furniture with real mass, one material wall and one object that is difficult to categorise. Keep aluminium to a narrow line. Then stop — and leave space around the result.
The new Japandi is not louder because it contains more. It is stronger because every addition has a reason.
CALM, WITH SOMETHING TO SAY.