Guest Blog: Newmor reflects on Clerkenwell Design Week trends

Newmor reveal trends from Clerkenwell Design Week 2016
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Clerkenwell Design Week is the UK’s leading design festival, and with the highest saturation of creative businesses and architects in the world, Clerkenwell was buzzing this year.

The biggest names in the design world exhibit alongside emerging designers and artisans in various historical buildings in the area. Newmor‘s design team spent the week exploring the show, and talking to the designers. Here’s what they found…

Inspired by Nature
Whether highly finished or rough and weathered, natural materials and organic colours are still big news. Take a look at Baker Street Boys’ versatile range of furniture – each piece is completely unique and uses solid oak and untreated steel. Kia Utzon-Frank, currently a student at the Royal College of Art, disguised cakes as geometric marble structures. And Amtico’s stand beautifully detailed the process behind their ethereal new design.

Newmor trends at Clerkenwell Design Week

Pastels
With pastel pink and blue forecast as the Pantone Colour of the Year 2016, we were expecting to see our fair share of pastel hues, and we weren’t disappointed! However, the shades we saw were towards the more vivid, saturated end of the pastel palette. Think macaron, rather than ice cream shades. We loved Elli Popp’s mystical new ParallelWorld wallpaper design and enjoyed Camira Fabric’s presentation of their new trend book.

Newmor trends at Clerkenwell Design Week

Gold and brass
Don’t get us wrong, copper is definitely still big news, but this year at Clerkenwell gold definitely dominated. Everything from 24 carat polished shades, to antiqued brass. Petit Friture hit the nail on the head with their range of quirky gold lighting exhibited at Design Fields. And it would be hard to talk about a metallic trend without a mention of Tom Dixon – this time with the new Etch Mini range.

Newmor trends at Clerkenwell Design Week

Tropics
Tropical prints are high fashion at the moment, and for the commercial market the tropical look is moving away from printed jungle scenes and towards tropical colour palettes… every tone of green from deep teals and forest hues to bright chartreuse, alongside splashes of scarlet and acid yellow. Abstracta’s customisable sound absorbing Airleaf panels were a highlight for us.

Newmor trends at Clerkenwell Design Week

Pink and Teal
Sometimes together, and sometimes independently, pink and teal were everywhere you looked this year. From upholstered furniture, to tiles, paint and an abundance of teal velvet. Another Brand exhibited their new Orlo mirrored surfaces at Design Fields, and Giles Miller Studio’s ‘billboard’ installations were dotted around Clerkenwell.

Newmor trends at Clerkenwell Design Week

Honourable mention…
A colour that hasn’t been on the horizon for a while… mustard showed up a lot this year, and looked super fresh.

Newmor trends at Clerkenwell Design Week

Watch this space for show round ups, trend reports and be the first to see our new designs. Please contact us for any further information or samples of any of our wallcoverings.

Henfaes Lane
Welshpool
Montgomeryshire
SY21 7BE
WALES

T: 01938 551990
E: enquiries@newmor.com

Guest Author / 13.06.2016

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Fun fact: I’m usually the person friends rely on to organise trips, schedules, and group plans.

Workhighlights: Successfully coordinating events from planning through to delivery and seeing everything come together on the day.

Fun fact: I’m a keen cyclist and will happily bore people with copious amounts of cycling chat. My top cycling experience (so far) would have to be riding in the spectacular mountains of Crete.

Work highlights: Charles joined Forum Events in 2022. With a background in publishing, editorial media and events, Charles brings a wealth of experience to his role as Senior Production Manager. Having being involved with SPACE from the outset, he is excited to see the brand grow and develop.

Fun fact: People tell Sienna she gives off Bridget Jones vibes, and she loves to bake, always making sure there are shortbreads floating around the office

Work highlights: Sienna joined Forum Events & Media Group while studying Communications and Media, starting in the sales team where she managed and helped launch the first the PA Life Leading Venues of London SHOWCASE, where she built relationships with luxury venues across the capital. Drawn to the stories behind these spaces, she naturally transitioned into the editorial team, creating social media and editorial content. Upon graduating in June 2026, she is excited to be joining as Assistant Editor for Hotel Designs and SPACE.

Fun fact: When not working, Jess can usually be found tending to her kitchen garden in the Sussex countryside or foraging for herbs in the nearby woods. A keen grower, she recently studied a RHS Level 2 Diploma in the Principles of Horticulture during her spare time.

Work highlights: Jess joined SPACE magazine in 2022 and has since progressed from Assistant Editor to Editor. During this time, she has worked across many aspects of the publication – from shaping editorial strategy and overseeing operations to contributing to art direction and representing the brand on stage at industry events including Surface Design Show and WOW!house.

Alongside her role at SPACE, Jess has built a creative career spanning the arts, culture, design and travel sectors. Prior to joining the magazine, she spent more than a decade in the commercial art industry, in artist liaison, gallery management, and curating collections for the hospitality sector across hotels and cruise ships. During this time, she also worked on freelance projects as a writer, photographer, and creative content producer.
 
Jess studied photojournalism at London College of Communication and the Danish School of Media and Journalism and holds a first-class BA (Hons) in Culture, Criticism and Curation from Central Saint Martins.

Fun fact: Katy has spent years perfecting all kinds of accents and loves a good impersonation!

Work highlights: Katy has been with Hotel Designs since the beginning, way back in 2015 when Forum Events & Media Group acquired the brand.

During this time, she has fostered many meaningful relationships with clients from across the hospitality spectrum, as well as playing a pivotal role in the launch of The Brit List Awards, Hotel Designs MEET UPs, client-led roundtables and panel talks, brand and website redesigns, HD Wellness Sets, DESIGN POD podcast, Hotel Designs LIVE panel talk series, Accessible Design Talks and more. Katy is always on the lookout for the next opportunity to help grow the Hotel Designs brand even further.
 
Most recently Katy has stepped in to the role of Publisher at SPACE magazine, the printed bi-monthly publication focused on hotel design, architecture, and development.

Together these platforms offer a comprehensive 360-degree service encompassing digital media, print publishing, and live events – providing unparalleled value to advertisers, partners, and readers alike.