Minimalist Interior

2023 Author: Douglas Hoggarth | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:23

We often read that the dwelling of such and such a famous figure is decorated in the art deco style, or in the hi-tech style, or that eclecticism prevails there … How not to get confused in all this design terminology? And most importantly, how to arrange your own home in one style or another?

In this article, we will focus on minimalism - the style that has taken root the best in Russia. Since a small apartment with a minimum of costs is easiest to equip in the spirit of minimalism. However, this does not mean at all that if you do not have problems with living space and money, then minimalism is contraindicated for you. Designers argue that this style is usually preferred by creative people, deep philosophical, self-sufficient natures. In a "minimalist" room, they have a sweeter rest and easier thinking, since nothing distracts them from thinking. If the above is about you, then we will not waste time in vain and will deal with a new interior.

I want freedom, freedom from the hustle and bustle of life … This means that you have matured to minimalism.

The minimalist interior is light and free. The colors used are mostly calm - soft, pastel. Although "bright" minimalism is also found (see photo).

The window plays a huge role. It is great if it is very large (on the whole wall), and behind it is a beautiful landscape. In this case, you can refuse from curtains and curtains - nature will "enter" the house, become a part of the interior, make it more interesting and harmonious. Well, if there is a bustling slushy city outside the window, you cannot do without curtains. But, as you probably already guessed, the curtains should also match the whole interior - unpretentious and monochromatic. At worst, blinds will do.

In the minimalist interior, there are also accessories, although purely symbolic, in very moderate quantities. Basically, these are things that are dear to the heart of the owner, which bring a piece of warmth into the house. It is desirable that these objects are of the correct geometric shape. But the presence of intricate fountains or ancient carved clocks in a modest interior is excluded!

Abstract paintings in the spirit of Kandinsky's constructivism are simply created to complement and decorate the minimalist interior, while the works of academic painting, on the contrary, mercilessly spoil the overall mood of the room. Naturally, the paintings should be inserted in simple flat frames. The same applies to photographs and mirrors.

Japanese minimalism

The traditional Japanese interior is minimalism in its purest form. Bare walls, floor mats, occasional miniature pieces of furniture and lots, lots of empty spaces. The interior of the whole house is designed as a single room with a "flowing" space, constantly changing thanks to screens and various sliding structures.

The Japanese dwelling is distinguished by the simplest compositional solutions, simple colors (traditionally it is an earthy scale - white, gray, brown, black and shades of these colors), unpretentious materials (mostly wood and stone), flexible layout. There are no wardrobes, they are replaced by two or three niches in the wall with doors or shelves, and there are no chairs - people squatting down to write and eat. The Japanese had never used a bed before: they slept on a mat, on a thin cotton mattress. They wrote on a low lacquer table with drawers. The only weakness of the Japanese is small lacquer cabinets and boxes for writing utensils, of which there are plenty in every Japanese home. The modest dwelling is complemented by book stands and screens.

From the history of the issue

Already at the end of the 1900s, constructivism began to manifest itself in architecture, and therefore in furniture. Affects psychological fatigue from languid and pampered modernity with its smooth curved lines. The pace of life is changing rapidly, the world is experiencing a boom in industrial production, cars, telephones and other new technologies appear. The lifestyle becomes much easier. The architecture of residential buildings is being simplified. The famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright develops ideas for minimalist cheap housing for workers. Interiors get rid of unnecessary decor, frivolous "curlicues" that ridiculously adorn an ordinary, in fact, building box - "a car for living" … Huge building structures of "glass and concrete" - skyscrapers appeared. After the First World War, impoverished Europe finally abandons modernity, which seems overly decorative and bourgeois, and therefore is associated with the tastes of those who led the world to disaster. Young architecture of simple clear forms seems to be the habitation of the future. The meaning of each item in the interior is very clear. Simplicity is taken to the limit, to such a simplification, when things - chairs, beds, wardrobes - become just objects for sitting, sleeping.

Fashionable

Combine minimalism with functionalism. Furniture, since there is little of it, should take on several functions. A sofa or bed is equipped with storage systems, hiding places for bed linen and clothes, a table can be "hidden" in a closet and pulled out when necessary, etc. Much in small - this is the motto of modern minimalism!