When thinking about minimalism, some of the terms and concepts that immediately come to mind are clean lines, uncluttered spaces, reductive, monochromatic, simple, and “less is more.” It’s difficult to deny the serene and simple beauty of a minimalist interior.
However, it’s quite challenging to achieve a minimalist look, as it is more deliberate and more than just choosing a few pieces of furniture and a white-painted wall. It’s because the area might look and feel cold and sparse instead of achieving a minimalist style. Therefore, if you want to have a room with a minimalist style, it’s better to consult with experts who can provide you with the right pieces of furniture that will match a minimalist design, just like what p5studio.com.sg offers.
If you’ve been hearing about minimalist design and wondering what it is all about, you’re in the right place. Today, we are giving you everything you need to know about the minimalist design trend.
What is Minimalism?
Minimalism, in visual arts, music, and other media, refers to an art movement that started in post-World War II Western art. But since we are talking about design, to put it simply, minimalism is about keeping a space simple, clean, and accentuating the attractive architectural features of a space. It’s a rejection of the extremely subjective designs and works of abstract expressionism. In art, abstract expressionism is a design approach that combines self-denial and emotional intensity, which lead to designs that are chaotic and rebellious.
In contrast, by distilling a product, painting, or subject down to its bare essentials, what minimalists wanted to show is the object’s true form. It takes form, color, and space and makes them simple to attain their essential nature. And when you can no longer remove anything else from the design to further improve it, that’s the time you know that true minimalism has been achieved. Minimalism is like a form of design nirvana, where bliss in design is achieved by removing all of the excesses. You can also check out tropical design architecture for more great options.
Characteristics of Minimalism
The minimalist design trend is interesting because it has specific qualities depending on what industry and which discipline it appears. Here are the different uses of minimalism and how it manifests in them:
1. Minimalism in Web Design
Today, the Internet is one of the most amazing breeding grounds for the expansion of the minimalist design trend. There are lots of web design styles that borrow from or a subset of minimalism.
One example is flat design. It favors very 2D aesthetics in the user interfaces of apps and websites. It is in contrast to skeuomorphism, where icons and buttons had raised surfaces and looked like their real-life counterparts. When the design is flat, it means that it has no depth at all. The design may have compromised usability to some degree, but it perfectly illustrates how minimalist web designers reduced the user experience to its most basic unit while still ensuring functionality, where no further improvements can be added.
2. Minimalism in Interior Design
The minimalist design trend has a huge impact on how people decorate interior spaces for maximum comfort, aesthetics, and function. Here are some examples:
- Surfaces
When a surface, for example, a table or counter, is cluttered, it is chaotic. Therefore, it is expected that the minimalist approach to interior design focus on neatness and organization. Minimalist interiors have clutter-free spaces. It’s quite challenging to live up to this standard, especially if you always have messy countertops, coffee tables, and more. However, striving for clutter-free surfaces is one of the ways that you can take an active part in incorporating a minimalist design into your indoor spaces.
- Light Color or Neutral Bases
Based on studies, the color in your room can affect your mood. Colors on the spectrum of blue can help you feel calmer, while warmer colors like yellow and red can give you comfort and warmth, but at the same time, hostility and anger. This is why choosing a lighter or neutral color is safe. Some of the best colors you can opt for when going for a minimalist design are white, gray, or a combination of gray and beige. But there are more undertones out there that you can explore.
- Consistency in Tones and Textures
When we say textures, we refer to items, such as throw pillows, blankets, rugs, and more, which add life to interiors. In a minimalist design, you need to choose an item that can add life and vigor to a space but not sacrifice the minimalist design trend in any room. All the textures that should be used in one space should be of the same tone. Too many different colors and patterns can throw away any minimalist look into chaos.
For example, if your room has a white base, then the textures should stay within that family color, such as off-white, tan, or beige. Also, minimalist designers rely on nature to decide if color combinations that occur in the outdoors work well together in interiors, too.
3. Minimalism in Architecture
Today, a lot of buildings, monuments, and structures have been inspired by the minimalist design trend. Here are some examples of how it is applied in architecture:
- Bare Essentials
In minimalist architectures, only the needed materials are used when designing and building. For example, from a blueprint, architects will reduce the design to exactly what it needs for just the bare minimum of needed materials, parameters, and elements. They do not aim to remove all of the ornamentations, but instead, they reach a point in the planning and designing stages where they are satisfied and that it can no longer be improved by removing anything else. But of course, they still keep the innate functionality of the structure intact.
- Respecting Space
In minimalist architecture, it is noticeable that space is a quality of design that is emphasized. It’s because when you reduce structural designs to their simplest forms, you are allowing more space to remain naturally. Most of the minimalist architectures out there have open-plan layouts and spatial arrangements. It shows you how space is respected and given an important role.
- Japanese Architecture
One of the best examples of minimalist design trend is Japanese architecture. Their focus on the minimalist design trend, especially in interiors, has a huge impact on the minimalist design trend. If you have been into an average Japanese home, you will immediately notice its simplicity, straightforwardness, lack of wasted space, and form following function. It’s because their design comes from Taoist philosophy. One of the core tenets of Laozi, the founder of philosophical Taoism, is the value of emptiness to that extent as aesthetics are concerned.
From that belief, we now have an average Japanese interior, which shows natural and minimalist decoration and touches. Some of these include silk, bamboo, rice straw mats, and paper screens.
Conclusion
The minimalist design trend is indeed one of the best styles that you can incorporate in your home. In this world full of excesses and kitsch, having a minimalist design is a breath of fresh air. It is a timeless design that has been used in different eras and cultures. It is a reaction against unnecessary excess that can obscure great design due to its obsession with ornamentation. And it has been the case not just in interior design but as well as in art, web design, architecture, and more.
We hope the information we shared here helped you in knowing more about the minimalist design trend.