Cast iron casserole with wooden handle first made by Iitala in 1960. Once celebrated on a Finnish postage stamp. Combining design usability with a traditional cast iron pot, Timo Sarpaneva’s inspiration came from his blacksmith grandfather. Image from Iitala.

The recession is closing in on minimalism. Sleek, cool, mono-aesthetics for people who don’t want to actually live in their homes is so last year. Goodbye as well to souless power kitchens where any signs of life are verboten. There are no remnants of actual cooking, with everything cleared up before you can say, “We’ve had a great dinner.”

Minimalism costs a lot. Less is meant to be much, much more and the punters want you to know it, the reverse of what you would hope. Hidden hinges, skirting boards, massive wall to ceiling cupboards, wide floor boards, frameless doors and windows do not come cheaply. It’s a statement of control and the power to impress. I must admit that one wants order if the chaos and clutter become too invasive, but it only takes a single glance at a Russian Oligarch style banker penthouse apartment and I quickly want my clutter back. These swanky pads are destined for people who don’t want homes but swanky hotel rooms, fully owned but barely lived in. If these minimalist interiors were once our aspirational home models, they are no longer.

All of this is not an attack on modernism, but merely a realisation that its true heart lies in a more accommodating and instinctual approach. When you visit Charles and Ray Eames’ Case Study house in the Palisades, you get a full taste of how they lived with found objects adorning walls and tables, a huge low level trolley on which sits a portable jungle – moved around the room according to mood. You can feel how much they loved living there.  Minimalism is grand standing for interior designers and frustrated architects who made an alliance with overly rich domestic control freaks. Letting designers impose a strong style statement is only justifiable if it makes people feel comfortable. In these troubled economic times, I suspect we are going to loose our interest in high status interiors and go for simpler, instinctual designs that cater to basics, such as functional well-made furniture, creating the right ambience with access to outdoors, sunlight, natural materials, and things handmade to last.  IKEA stuff that looks great but quickly deteriorates seems wasteful and unecological.  We will learn to accept that things will wear, and should be worthy of repair.  There will still be room for pattern and decoration and texture, but it will be chosen more for provenance and mood and less for fashion.

What could come out of this financial crisis that would be good is support for artisans in all aspects of home renovation, with a concomitant desire for authenticity and less bling, more confident personal expression, the use of found objects, expanding the use of junk shops and repairing things. Careful choice exercised whilst purchasing things will be allied to the end of anti-mess behaviour at home and the minimalist lifestyle.

In the April issue of the Financial Times’ How to Spend It guide, Katrina Burroughs explores the “crescendo of curves” that she says has been creeping into design vocabulary the last few years. In her article “Arcs de triomphe”, Burroughs includes a quote from one of our favourite clients, Tiffany Wood, who told her about the kitchen we designed for her home in Bath:

Tiffany Wood, an interior designer based in Bath, commissioned her cabinetry from Johnny Grey, the original promoter of the wavy line in kitchen design. Grey’s kitchens start at £75,000 and each is a unique work of ergonomic art. Wood chose a mixture of walnut, sycamore and oak, with polished concrete and lava stone, and asked for ‘curves every which way: vertical and horizontal.’ Thrilled with the result, she says ‘It’s far more relaxing to be in a space where you know you aren’t going to bang into a corner. We have no sharp edges.’

Best of all, she finds the curves lend themselves to her frantic family life, maximising the ratio of work surface to floor space. ‘I have three children and they have countless cousins, and they all love to cook. They come and make pancakes crowded round the great big worktops - I can squeeze in 12 children round those curves.’ Wood adds: ‘My curvy kitchen is warm and friendly. It does make people smile.’ Ah, the most important curve of all.

See the full article on page 19 of the April 2008 How to Spend It digital edition.

When recently asked about his use of curves, Johnny explained it as follows:

My use of curves was initiated from the way peripheral eye vision works. Corners stimulate one’s defence mechanism. Imagine a tunnel four feet wide with spiky rocks sticking out. All you will do is focus on preventing being hurt. If the same tunnel is lined with upholstery, you breeze down it thinking of the beautiful experience you will be having in bed or at the table tomorrow. When peripheral vision is activated, you use much more brain capacity because it is all about self defence and the hormones associated with flight and fight mechanisms – which will then be activated. Full frontal vision is so much part of our normal day to day experience that we effectively can focus on other tasks or experiences and the ‘nice’ emotions. Plus curves work satisfactorily with the body and eye from a symmetrical perspective.

Check out columnist Katherine Salant’s recent piece, “Kitchens Where Every Last Detail Is Weighed and Measured”, in the April 10 edition of the Washington Post.

She eloquently explains how Johnny’s unconventional approach differs from traditional American kitchen design:

Grey’s unconventional kitchens are a radical departure from conventional American ones. They feature jazzy colors, original artwork, playful, custom cabinetry best described as “sculptural” and work areas that are carefully tailored to a client’s measurements.

She continues:

American kitchen designers tend to box up everything behind closed cabinet doors, but Grey prefers open storage adjacent to the place where an item is used. He maintains this is more convenient, eliminates unnecessary movement and makes the space feel lived in. He puts plate racks above the dishwasher, open racks below a cooktop for large pots and hooks above it for cooking utensils or smaller pots.

Read the full article here. Also check out her September 20, 2008 Washington Post piece on our Dexter kitchen at the Showtime Showcase House in New York last autumn.