Aestheticism is all about seeking material integrity and personal expression. Starting in the 1860s, peaking in the 1870s, and dwindling by the 1890s, the Aesthetic Movement brought radical change to interiors. Followers of the Aesthetic Movement were middle-to-upper class bohemians known as aesthetes—figures like Dante Gabriel Rosetti, William Morris, Oscar Wilde, Frederic Leighton, and James McNeill Whistler—who sought to distance themselves from the existing styles of the time. It was a reactive movement against the morally loaded connotations of the Gothic revival, as well as the ugliness of mass consumerism that came with the Industrial Age. They aimed to have beauty in all spaces by only purchasing quality items that they deemed to be either beautiful or useful. In the 1960s and 1970s, this notion was revived in bohemian circles as a reaction against the conservative values and styles of the 1950s—once again, people looking to be free of moral or stylistic limitations. So then what exactly are we reacting against?
Well, you might have noticed a shift in direction when it comes to interiors lately. We have moved away from spaces that are totally saturated in grey, stark white, and beige; spaces that are controlling in that they don’t allow for many personal touches and tastes. Although neutral spaces devoid of ornamentation certainly still exist, it’s safe to say that the once ubiquitous greige rooms vacant of layers and warmth have fallen out of fashion and are gradually being replaced by spaces that actually tell a story. Gone are the days when it was socially acceptable (for some) to fill a room with matching pieces from the same store—a living room built in an afternoon. “This white box and grey room look is over,” said Alidad with a sense of relief. “Things were just so minimal for so many years, I think people are yearning for warmth to come back.” A lack of colour, texture, layering, and personal objects is an unintentional admission of lack by the homeowner themselves—a lack of personal taste, travel, and perhaps even historic curiosity. Design choices without reasons beyond convenience and checking boxes has, frankly, led to boredom and wasteful consumption. However, once again, interiors have started to evoke the spirit and motto of the Aesthetic Movement: ‘Art for Art’s sake’. In other words, people are putting more of themselves and what they love into their spaces, rather than living within spaces that don’t allow any sort of personal expression.
Immediately, this truth is palpable via the more liberal uses of colour and texture. Ochres, dull reds, peacock blues, golden browns, and sage greens—all colours of the Aesthetic Movement—have made their way back onto our walls. Alright, we will admit, grey was a frequently-used colour of the Aesthetic Movement, however, it was the aesthetes’ use of layering that kept it from crossing into the realm of sterility. Nonetheless, we have moved past looking to grey as our go-to neutral. In fact, we’ve even started redefining what a neutral is so that we can incorporate even more colour. Pink, for example, has been labelled as somewhat of a super-colour: bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, the formal, the informal—is there anything Edward Bulmer’s ‘Jonquil’ can’t do?. The current wallpaper frenzy has certainly contributed to the newfound love of colour, thus adding a layer of visual texture, as well. The adornment of ceilings and dados were an important element of the Aesthetic Movement, which is most evident in the Aladdin’s cave that is Sambourne House, the Aesthetic home of Punch illustrator Edward Linley Sambourne. Its dados, walls, and ceilings, which are covered in William Morris wallpaper, have undoubtedly acted as a source of inspiration—or possibly even permission—to free dados and ceilings from stark white. An extreme and quite literal example is Ken Fulk’s room for WOW!house, which is obviously a dialed-up reimagination of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Green Dining Room, with dado panels and painted coffers depict flora, fauna, and (wait for it) cowboy boots. In a more relatable fashion for long-lasting interiors, people are simply giving dados any colour besides white or cream. With ceilings, people are feeling more inclined to paint them the same colours as their walls, stenciling designs onto them, adding wallpaper, or even just giving white ceilings a reflective gloss to provide warmth and texture to a surface that is often otherwise visually flat or sterile; a small bit of effort for a big effect.
“With colour and pattern coming back, it’s only natural that we start looking at other cultures, as well,” Alidad said. He would know, as he has mastered the art of creating layered, storied, and globally rich interiors. “It’s the idea of the traveller that is very important to me,” he continued. “People used to go off and be curious, then bring something back that they really loved, and they were proud of it.” His room for WOW!house tells the story of George Gilbert Scott, Jr—one of the founders of Watts—and his descendants who ‘occupied’ this fictitious cabinet where they kept their most prized possessions. When absorbing the different layers within the room, one does get a sense of who each of the occupants were… and the places they went. All across Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, Africa—all places George Gilbert Scott, Jr and his family went according to Alidad’s imagination—are represented in the room via Ottoman and Venetian silk velvet panels, an Imari vase lamp, a Hispano-Moresque dish. . . and even a sneaky Ikea piece (perhaps Mr Scott also visited Sweden).
This concept of looking to other cultures for interiors inspiration was a large part of what the original Aesthetic Movement was about. With the opening of Japan in 1853, its presence at the 1862 International Exhibition, and subsequent travel to the Land of the Rising Sun, Japanese art and form became a major source of inspiration from wallpaper and ceramics to furniture itself. Ebonised, linear furniture in the style of EW Godwin, lacquered pieces, blue and white vases, and faux bamboo were all the rage—much like they are now, as we sprinkle them here-and-there in our interiors. Perhaps the most obviously global home of the Aesthetic Movement is Leighton House; a trip abroad without having to leave London. Artists of this era were fascinated by ‘the Orient,’ so they took their brushes and canvases to North Africa, the Near East, and the Middle East to bring scenes of lives so foreign to the Western eye. Built for painter Frederic Leighton, first Baron Leighton, it is a reflection of his own extensive travels. Its Qa’a (Arab Hall) displays his sixteenth-century iznik tiles from his trips to Turkey and seventeenth-century mashrabiya from his trips to Syria. His drawings and paintings throughout the house allow us to see what he saw on his trips to places like Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco.
“Right now, we are living in a very multi-dimensional and multinational world,” Alidad said. We travel more, have more diversity in our cities, and can purchase anything with one click from somewhere across the globe. Current interiors of varying scales and budgets reflect this globalism—whether pieces were bought from a market in Marrakech or online from Etsy. It’s hard to come by a traditionally-leaning space that doesn’t incorporate a sun-bleached ikat cushion, a low-pile Qashqai rug, some block-printed curtains, a loosely-hung Fante Asafo flag, or the Aesthetic Movement stalwart that is the eight-or-six-sided table of many names—the Moorish table, the Hoshiarpur table, the Syrian table—you know the one we’re talking about. In other words, Robert Kime would be proud.
Antiquing was also a large element of the Aesthetic Movement. Buying old and used furniture wasn’t something that was done in affluent (or at least comfortable) circles before the aesthetes of the day declared it a pastime. This led to spaces that were made of layers of different eras—or, as Stephen Calloway put it: “the idea of putting together juxtapositions that just sort of work together.” A Hepplewhite shield back chair in the corner, a French Empire semainier against the wall, and a brand-new faux bamboo fire screen all would have resided in the same space. Old, new, inherited, found; they decorated with what they liked. The same can be said for a lot of today’s spaces, as the taste for matchy-matchy suites of furniture has dwindled. People take pride in their antique and vintage finds, and right now, actual pieces from the Aesthetic Movement are trending, like the aforementioned ‘table of many names,’ ebonized pieces, and faux bamboo objects and furniture such as mirrors and small desks. Mixed in with these pieces may be a tribal vase-turned-lamp from the thrift store or the perfectly patinated brass-and-glass coffee table that belonged to their grandmother in the eighties—pieces that go but don’t match.
“Good design is good design, and it doesn’t matter what time it comes from,” said Brandon Schubert, an expert in cohesively blending different styles. “It could be something that is ancient, worn, and really rustic, next to something that’s very polished and finished. The key to mixing different time periods and styles is you find a thread that unites them.” His own spaces reflect this sentiment—a twentieth-century plywood chair paired with an eighteenth-century bureau bookcase, African masks hung above an English mahogany whatnot, a Sussex-style chair next to a mid-century teak credenza—they’re all from different spheres and places, but they all speak the same language when together via common themes of colour, texture, and shape.
“If you’re lucky enough to have exceptional things, that’s very good—but not everything has to be exceptional,” Alidad adds. “Decorative rubbish next to something that’s exceptional; that’s how you make a house a home.” At a time when people are increasingly money conscious due to the cost-of-living situation, people with no design background are doing this intuitively. It’s also fair that some people find buying all-new to be morally distasteful, as they are becoming more environmentally focused. They’re splurging on enduring classics they know they’ll love forever and accessorizing with used pieces that may not have been costly, but are perhaps treasures in their own right due to sentimental associations. These less expensive pieces are, therefore, elevated by the expensive pieces in the room. So, go ahead and put some well-worn needle point cushions and a hand-made quilt from your local charity shop on your Howard sofa—Alidad says it’s ok.
It's important to note that our growing hunger for warmth, comfort, and storytelling has extended beyond actual homes. There are few things more disappointing than a restaurant that has great food but a sterile or overly-trendy interior—spaces that look like they were beamed out of the computer program they were designed in. In other words, rooms that echo and lack ornamentation. There is certainly no wonder why the dining room within Chelsea’s new hotel At Sloane has been one of the most popular restaurants over the last few months. Designed by French interiors legend François-Joseph Graf, the dining room within At Sloane provides diners with the feeling of comfortable elegance; like going back in time. “This is what people are looking for.” said Mr Graf. It’s true—we want to feel enchanted on a night out. Design history enthusiasts might recognize the room’s shelving, which holds antique red, ivory, black, and yellow vases he bought in Singapore. The lattice shelves are straight out of James McNeill Whistler and Thomas Jeckyll’s Aesthetic Movement treasure chest—The Peacock Room. They’re highly Japanese in form and were made to hold an assortment of blue and white Kangxi wares. Originally built in 1877 in the Kensington home of shipping tycoon Frances Richards Leyland, the dining toom was purchased by American railroad magnate Charles Lang Freer in 1919 after Leyland’s death, and now resides at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. “I flew to Washington to take measurements,” Mr Graf said proudly. He is highly interested and educated in all things Japonisme, so this commendable act of perfectionism did not surprise us one bit. “I wanted people to feel like they were invited into a private, English house,” he continued. He certainly succeeded, and in our opinion, the lighting is a main factor of what makes the dining room feel so comfortable. “Everything is always too bright,” he said of other dining establishments. The room is a soft, yellow light that is visually on-par with candlelight—refreshingly dissimilar from the white, down-lit lighting used in many contemporary restaurants. The need for warm, mellow lighting seems to be of growing importance to people, as Instagram is filled of memes and reels of people talking about how they never use their living rooms’ ‘big light’ and instead opt for the use of candles and lamps. If we seek warmth and comfort in our own spaces, then it only makes sense that we seek the same feeling in all spaces where we are expected to unwind and have a good time.
With that being said, we also can’t overlook the massive influence of social media on our design preferences. “People react to colour, pattern, and texture,” said Brandon, “and when you’re scrolling through social media, that’s what stands out.” We’ve established how there’s a longing to step away from greige, ubiquity, and spaces that say absolutely nothing about its inhabitants—imagine if your Instagram feed was filled with nothing but squares of neutrals and instantly recognizable brands? How monotonous. Followers of the Aesthetic Movement were called ‘The Cult of Beauty’ for a reason, as they believed that everything in their homes should be beautiful. Our Instagram feeds are filled with modern aesthetes who have let us have a peek into their homes and lives—and we all love it because we can live vicariously through their beautifully curated vignettes as we sit at home in decade-old pajama bottoms on thrifted sofas we swear we’ll get around to reupholstering eventually. In the world of Instagram tastemakers, Alice Naylor-Leyland might come to mind, elegantly reclining on chintz sofas and dressed in her Jenny Packham and Emilia Wickstead gowns, as does the charming ‘cottagecore’ world of Mrs Trufflepig and her cream-coloured Aga that perfectly matches her flock of ducks. Although their spaces might be unrealistically curated as they also act as sets for their homewares and product placements, they’re still a far and refreshing cry from the grey carpet and crittall doors that seemingly every builder and landlord in London has forced upon us since the 2010s.
When it comes to living beautifully on our screens, Alexandra Tolstoy certainly stands out. Everything from her excursions through Kyrgyzstan on horseback to her Fair Isle jumpers with colourfully-mended moth holes exude an aura and message that tells us truly anything and everything can be made beautiful. “If something isn’t useful or beautiful, then just don’t get it,” Alexandra said, channeling William Morris. Her home is a perfect reflection of this mantra and of her lifetime of travels and collecting. A nineteenth-century Russian dresser is used as a bathroom cupboard, Kuznetsov plates and bowls from the bazaars of Bukhara and Samarkand rest on her kitchen countertops, and an antique Uzbek chopan doubles as a dressing gown and a hanging art piece. Of course, ‘beauty’ is a subjective concept, however, content creators of this calibre have reminded us of one important lesson: we do, in fact, have a choice. We all need cupboards, plates, and works of art—why not buy ones that conjure emotion, charm, and intrigue?
However, you shouldn’t be pressured to buy pieces for the sake of looking unique if they don’t speak to you or act as a reflection of the road you’ve traveled. It’s important to emphasize that even pieces of the Aesthetic Movement became mass-produced and ubiquitous as it trickled down to lower markets—much like today’s suzani cushion. One can’t completely escape ubiquity. If you’re trying to incorporate more of yourself into your interiors and just don’t know how, simply remember what Stephen Calloway told us: “All beautiful things go together.” In other words, things you love will work with other things you love. “The most important thing is to just be authentic,” said Alexandra. “Some people come into my house and say, ‘oh this is just so much stuff!’ Well, obviously it’s not made for them.” She’s right—at the end of the day, you need to design for yourself, and judging by recent interior trends, we’d say that more and more people are doing just that.
