Seventies design is back and this is how to make it feel relevant
As someone who loves a flared trouser, the colour brown and a road trip playlist of Elton John and Paul Simon, few things bring me greater pleasure than announcing that 1970s interior design is having a moment, trotting back into our homes with all the panache of Bianca Jagger riding a horse into Studio 54.
Of course, the renewed appeal of Seventies-inspired interiors didn’t appear from nowhere and take us all by surprise – aspects of the look have been popular for several years – but it feels more recent that the ante has been upped and our mindsets have shifted. Instead of merely dipping in a toe, with a rattan chair here and a potted fern there, 1970s designs that were previously considered offensive to the eye suddenly feel like perfectly reasonable choices to make. I know because I’m typing this with my slippered feet on top of a plush wool rug that falls somewhere between olive and avocado. So fickle are we (me included) that in 2019, I refused to view a great rental because of a fitted carpet in this exact colour, and yet when architect and interior designer Ben Pentreath replaced his sisal flooring with an olive-green carpet this time last year, it seemed inspired and I realised I had been an idiot. Even the once-reviled coloured bathroom suite is having a comeback, with pink loos and pistachio green sinks the order of the day (see Luke Edward Hall's design for the Parisian hotel Les Deux Gares for the most stylish examples).
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The key designs to notice and where to see them in action
Since our arms-wide-open acceptance of iconic 1970s pieces, Mario Bellini’s ‘Camaleonda’ has become Instagram’s most-wanted sofa, with other chubby sofas including the ‘Soriana’ by Afra and Tobia Scarpa and Ligne Roset’s ‘Togo’ not far behind. Murano glass lamps became a hot commodity, bamboo drinks trolleys attempted to convince us that London in 2020 in was actually Palm Beach in 1974, and fabrics of choice became boucle, shearling and velvet. It’s understandable. After the couple of years we’ve had, is there any wonder we’re drawn to the comforting designs of yesteryear and plump furniture akin to a tactile hug? The last thing anyone needs after limited social contact and an enormous amount of time at home is a grey and austere living room.
Besides curvaceous seating and shades of guacamole, what else are we seeing in the way of 1970s decor? Hotels, for a start. In 2019, hotelier Ian Schrager opened the UK’s first Standard Hotel and it took up residence in a 1970s Brutalist building in King’s Cross. Unsurprisingly, the interiors match the architecture, with a wood-clad library lounge and retro bar filled with plump tan leather seating, Klein-blue accents contrast with wood panelling, wall-mounted textiles and clashing patterns that feel warm and cosseting. The new opening felt refreshing and fun – a colourful tonic in contrast to London’s many traditional and restrained five-star hotels.
Since then, Soho House has opened a members’ club at 180 The Strand in another of London’s great Brutalist buildings, and the interiors are a brilliant example of how appealing 1970s décor can feel. With a healthy dose of velvet, parquet flooring, shag pile rugs and geometric print, the design feels like a glamorous Hollywood Hills party spot and nothing like the photographs of your aunt’s living room. The Hoxton group’s newest outpost in Rome is another hotel banging the Seventies drum, with gently retro interiors referencing nostalgic Italian cinema and the country’s celebrated mid-century designs.
How to use 1970s furniture and fabrics in a tasteful way
Of course, decorating a home is very different to being let loose on a hotel lobby, so how do you incorporate 1970s colours and design hallmarks in a contemporary and liveable way? As a top-to-toe look it can be quite a crowd divider. No one wants to live in an Austin Powers film set and there are elements of Seventies decor that should stay firmly in the past. In my personal opinion, deep shag pile carpets belong in that category. Likewise, bright orange plastic. Instead, take a much more subtle approach.
With rugs, look to boucle or jute rugs to add texture, flatweaves in geometric designs or vintage Moroccan rugs with a shorter pile that won’t shed relentlessly. In terms of textures and furnishing fabrics, keep the look up to date and relaxed with natural fibres such as wool and linen, combined with the occasional accent of rattan and cane. Velvet works well too, but in small doses. Domed and globe-shaped lighting is everywhere at the moment – especially useful little rechargeable desk lamps – but stay on the right side of retro and go for brass or chrome, or classic designs such as a Panthella lamp or Hay’s new Pao lamp.
Nailing the colour scheme is the best way to add a modern slant to troubling visions of floral prints on a backdrop of bright orange and brown, which does still feel quite dated. Instead of a true zesty orange, you might find that ochre, tobacco and terracotta hues are infinitely easier to work with, especially if using print. I’m a huge fan of brown and have been for a long time but the colour you pair with it is key to its success. Brown (or tan) and blue – whether pale and icy or true indigo – is always a winning combination and brown can also look wonderful with dusky pink, a neutral or pistachio green. US-based designers Kelly Wearstler and Commune Design both make brown-on-brown work to great effect, so look to them for inspiration. Commune Design excel in particular at creating stylish mid-century interiors that look fresh from 1970s California, but without any of the timewarp vibes.
A word of warning, though: you can have too much of a good thing and you’ll never get the most
interesting end result by creating a pastiche, especially when most of us are drawn to a variety of design movements and periods. Lean into that, and instead of buying a complete look with your furniture and colour scheme, mix and match Seventies-inspired pieces with antiques and furniture from other eras (designers Tom Morris and Rebecca Körner both get this balance right in recent projects). Wood panelling is another way you can give a Seventies nod to a room and add instant warmth without doing the whole song and dance. Interior designers Beata Heuman and Brandon Schubert recently combined warm teak panelling and mid-century pieces with complementary furniture from different periods to get a layered and interesting end result.
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