Expressing Your Eclectic Side

Eclectic style is a term used when several interior design styles or elements that are from different periods and origins are used in one space. Often it is a beautiful mish-mash of creatively curated pieces that connects a person to a space. It can combine styles like mid-century modern, contemporary, Colonial, Art Deco, Moroccan, Scandinavian, and more. Many people who create eclectic spaces have a deep love and understanding of each element they bring to the room. Perhaps they purchased a piece of furniture on holiday, received it when a loved one had passed, or they simply know the story of the piece and how it came to be. Their reasons to bring each piece to their space helps to create a room that they love.

One of our favourite Pinterest pin boards is our eclectic spaces board. There are thousands of creative eclectic spaces to be found for interior design inspiration. When creating an eclectic space, keep these key points in mind:

• Combine pieces that have a likeness, but do not match
• Consider furniture from different eras, origins and materials
• Add colourful accents like art or textiles to tie in larger pieces
• Fill up your space – eclectic design is based on the idea that more is more
• Play with different textures, from glass and metal to wallpaper and fabrics
• Include great lighting to highlight your space
• Have fun with it and love every piece

Many people only consider a room to be a design success when it is perfectly coordinated, when furniture is accurately to scale, and if the pieces are all logically connected to the period of the room.  Where mainstream design is thought to be a melting pot of elements, perfecting combining all ingredients, eclectic design is a tossed salad, combining tastes and textures that work in perfect harmony. Eclectic style is appealing to the eye and that is why it is such a great success.

Residential Decoration | Australian Interior Design

Residential Decoration | Australian Interior Design Awards http://ow.ly/8vufN

Spotlight on Lighting

The power of great lighting can transform even the most desolate of design interiors. Light is a building material capable of beautiful synergy and an ineffable communication with steel, wood, glass and cement. When lights are correctly and artfully placed they can provide the perfect feature or accent to a barren room, help enlarge small spaces and dictate how people feel within your home.

The significance of lighting in interiors began to come into play during the first half of 20^th century. It was during the Modern Movement, throughout the 1920’s and 30’s, when new attitudes and radical solutions to lighting design began being explored.

It was the designers at the Bauhaus who started to look at light bulbs not simply as objects to produce light but as objects with their own aesthetic appeal. They drew attention to light for lights sake, designing pieces where the bulb lead the design.

Later, designers produced lighting arranged as formal sculptures and introduced some of the most innovatory advances in the design of industrial lighting into the house. These included the use of opaque and frosted glass in simple globe forms, integrated switches and the use of aluminum for reflectors.

HFOC currently has a number of covetable designer lights in store by key modern lighting designers that have the power to transform any room.

30-Bulb Chandelier by Gino Sarfaatti for Flos

Chandelier by Sarfatti for Flos

Designed by Gino Sarfatti in 1958, this light is a true icon, and makes as much grand scale impact as it did over 50 years ago.  The suspension lamp is made from steel and chrome, classic modernism at its best.

Sarfatti rose to fame as the founder of legendary shop Arteluce in Milan. The workshop became an international reference point for the modern architecture movement in lighting, won numerous awards including the Compasso d’Oro in 1954 was an important forum for many of the leading Italian designers in the 50′s and 60′s.

Available in store for $1,650 AUD.

Fil De Fer Pendant Light by Castellani & Smith

Fil De Fer Pendant Light by Castellani & Smith

Handmade in Italy and inspired by the cosmos, this suspension light by world-renown Castellani & Smith contains tens of small halogen bulbs wrapped inside a large aluminum wire-ball. The result is some seriously dramatic and attention-grabbing lighting.

Available in store for $2,000 AUD.

Chandelier by FontanaArt

Chandelier by FontanaArte

Designed by David Chipperfield for FontanaArte, this chandelier has a slightly medieval-mystic feel and appears to hover magically in space with its simple suspension structure for maximum impact.

It was architect Gio Ponti who founded FontanaArte in 1932, originally as an artistic division of glass manufacturing company Luigi Fontana. The design company’s works were first distinguished by the realization of artistic stained-glass windows, many of which are today still the ornamental elements in churches and cathedrals like the Duomo of Milan and the cathedral of Brasilia.

Available in store for $2,500 AUD.