Plant and animal motifs in interior design and accessories: tenderness and sentimentality; characteristic details, textures and color.

Passing the gallery

Leading headings: Elena Prytula

Magazine: N5 (61) 2002

In modern design, neo-romanticism is gradually being established. Tenderness and sentimentality penetrate into the designer creative space, turning the minimalist “desert” into a blossoming paradise garden filled with amazing flowers, strange birds and animals. Listen to its sounds, inhale its aromas, enjoy its colors ... The total presence of flora and fauna in today's design may seem paradoxical only at first glance. It is known that romanticism is one of the most eclectic styles, and it owes its thematic repertoire to too many eras. If, as a historical phenomenon, romanticism was notable for its complexity and difficultly analyzing multidimensionality, then what about the recently appeared neo-romanticism, in which complexity turned into intellectual sophistication. Guessing types, cultural quotes and style prototypes is a favorite game of our time, and neo-romanticism makes it possible to realize such a desire. This is one of the reasons why the current romanticism is experiencing an irresistible addiction to the exotic - the thing on which his historical predecessor "made a name for himself". Europe seemed to rediscover the vegetative and animal world of Africa, Asia and the East, which had attracted it two hundred years ago. But this time it appears much more differentiated. More recently, the reigning style jumble today is clearly acquiring the features of a certain structure: such long-existing trends as Asian, Mediterranean, or, say, more rare Caribbean, from “blurry” become easily recognizable - thanks to characteristic details, textures and color. By the way, color in general turned out to be extremely important for neo-romanticism, to the extent that any color combinations can determine its various branches: the specificity of the Caribbean color, like Tuscan, for example, does not require comments, but the recent renaissance of the combination of black with white today is associated with the direction of retro. Emotionality is still the main sign of modern romanticism. It is “realized” in interior design and accessories and is equally characteristic of both the subtlest “classical” engraving on crystal glasses and the deliberately coarse floral pattern of bed linen, reminiscent of today's popular style of the 60s. Under the influence of neo-romanticism, even its antagonist, functionalism, becomes increasingly emotional. The Garden of Paradise of neo-romanticism is fundamentally "not boring." In all these animals and birds there is some charming frivolity, consonant with the general mood of modern design. The same floral or "sea" patterns in the interior turn into entertainment, a designer game. On the other hand, the images of flora and fauna clearly have a mystical hue: the numerous symbolic interpretations of these motifs - and there are a great many of them in the history of culture - create a powerful semantic layer working at the subconscious level. Not that designers necessarily mean that the turtle or elephant on the shelf act as models of the universe, but still ... And the main thing in the paradise gardens of neo-romanticism is beauty, which is the end and means.