Renowned interior designer and time-honoured judge on The Block Darren Palmer says he is forever curious about the human psychology underpinning the latest in design trends.

When asked about ‘what is hot, in house design, Darren was quick to respond, “It’s always some sort of reaction to a psychological, political or economic stimulus,” he says. It is more interesting to delve into why people want what they do. He uses the example of COVID-19 which inspired the return of both early 2000s minimalism and cottagecore. Minimalism was an extension of the cleanliness required during the pandemic while cottagecore was about the comfort of nostalgia.
Two very different trends, both coming from a reaction to the sterility required from outside.

Palmer says while he pays attention to trends, he isn’t one to simply follow them.

“I’ve never really loved too much about adhering to trends. I would like to think my work is more classic, definitely Australian… I think you fall into this really narrow trap if all you do is look at what everybody else is doing and try to do that too”.

His advice to contestants on The Block is to be careful not to copy and paste trends from Pinterest into their projects.

“It’s one thing to see and be inspired by what other people are doing and a very different thing to deny yourself the opportunity to be able to think creatively around that inspiration and interpret it through your own lens”.

When asked about the sexiest design trends right now Palmer was quick to answer “colourful natural stone” It is art. It is natural in its form and colour palette. You can get some very surprising and very interesting colour palettes in coloured natural stone”.

He says he has been seeing it used to great effect in joinery, coffee tabletops, console tops and furniture.

When Palmer is designing a project, regardless of the scale, he says he always considers two key things: designing around access to light and ensuring the floorplan flows well.

Interestingly, Palmer finds the natural constraints of smaller spaces makes them easier to design as opposed to large spaces which have fewer constraints. The need for transitional living between home and work is seeing more defined, separate spaces and hence a desire to make something more decorative from it. Darren suggests; “I really do think the best most successful spaces have realised the best access to natural light possible and they’ve also made the best of every inch per square meterage”.

With window to wall ratio’s expanding to magnify the architecture and style of the home, Palmer says he can’t go past a fine profile stacker door which he has chosen in his own renovation, that also offers a completely flush bottom sill to connect the indoors with the outdoors, without any trip hazards combining this with sashless windows for a cleaner crisp look.

When looking at how sustainability plays into design, Palmer comments on just how accessible sustainable options are these days - from solar energy to water tanks to high-performing windows and doors.

“It’s actually quite simple to tap into the grid as little as possible these days. The solar rebate is really encouraging Australians to create their own energy”.

He says he also defines sustainability as “buy once buy well, make once make well and designing something beautiful that doesn’t need to be torn down in 10 years”.

“Sustainability isn’t just about the decisions made in construction but about the decisions made in design”.

If you’d like to find out more about sustainable designs and designing beyond trends, listen to the whole episode of the podcast here.