Minimalist Interior Design

Minimalism is very similar to modern interior design and involves using the bare essentials to create a simple and uncluttered space. Minimalism started in the early 20th century with architecture, roughly around the 1920s. Post-World War 1 architect, Van der Rohe, was one of the first prominent architects who used principles in his designs that came to exemplify minimalist design (Oleg, 2011).

We are interested in Emma’s take on minimalism and the difficulties that surround the approach, “So one thing I’ll say about minimalism is that it’s not just about throwing things out and just keeping the bare minimum, the minimalist look is quite difficult to achieve because what’s left in the room has to be absolutely perfect. 

“Let’s say you go for the maximalist look, your eye doesn’t quite rest on one thing at one time, it just moves around the room because you have different things that draw your attention to it. To achieve the minimalist look, the items you use have to be right for you as when you look at them you will see their faults and anything that isn’t quite right as they are of focus.

“Now if you have that item as an antique item and it’s not quite perfect, that is more like a characteristic of that item, sometimes that makes it a bit different, it’s the personality of it.

Say, for example, you have some extraordinary antique pieces as the centerpieces, you then have to make sure that the background (for example, your walls) are perfectly painted, that the colour is right for the furniture and the blinds/curtains are matched with the overall design. This provides space for the centerpiece to have its uneven characteristics!”.

“Those centre pieces need to be so bold that they basically say we don’t need anything else, these are the pieces that go in this room, if it’s done properly then there is no need for anything else to finish off the scheme, because those pieces are enough.”

Bringing Interior Design Clients to iacf Antiques Markets

“I (Emma) would love to bring clients here (iacf Antiques Markets) and take them around, get them to view all the variety of items available and we can then make a joined decision on what they love  and what we can bring back to their spaces. They would love that”.