Sitting & living in the 80's

There are soft pastels, bright neon tones and strong block colours. Powdery pink, bright lime green and strong cobalt blue went hand in hand, or at least side by side, through the 80s. Similarly, a small floral Laura Ashley wallpaper could live next door to a boldly designed Memphis-style piece of furniture without much conflict.

Yes, the 80s is a sometimes loud decade, it's disco glam with mirrored walls, exotic porcelain animals and glass tables set in chromed steel frames. Kitschy and tasteless, some think, while others embrace and welcome what is so markedly different from the pine furniture and massively heavy bookshelves in dark woods of the 70s.

It's as if this decade has seen a new popular movement where interior design has seriously become the interest of every man and woman. It is suddenly a matter of course that we not only choose interior design that is practical and functional, it should also, like your clothes, speak of who you are and reflect your personality. What's more, the ever-increasing range of furniture and homeware items means that there is a lot to choose from, making it possible to re-style the home more often and more consistently than before.

And as A-ha is played on the radio and Dirty Dancing on the cinema screen, many design classics are created on drawing boards, some of which may even be more beloved today than when they were first shown to the world.

It is not unlikely that Jonas Bohlin's Concrete chair is the first piece of furniture we associate with Swedish 80s design combined with global success. The chair was part of Bohlin's degree project from Konstfack in 1981 and was, as the name suggests, made of concrete. Today, Concrete is produced by Källemo and the material choices have become much lighter and more manageable.

As A-ha is played on the radio and Dirty Dancing on the cinema screen, many design classics are created on drawing boards, some of which may even be more beloved today than when they were first shown to the world.

Furniture with leather upholstery became important in the 80s, not least among armchairs, and in 1982 the Spider Chair from DUX was introduced. It certainly exudes the spirit of the 80s, perhaps even more so when upholstered in white leather, but the design is so timeless that it can be placed in almost any context. And that's what makes it worthy of the epithet "modern classic".

A piece of furniture that definitely fits in the same category is Bruno Mathsson's Mi 459 Minister swivel chair from 1986. A chair that inspires authority, both in itself and for the person sitting in it. The furniture was the last to leave Mathsson's well-filled sketchbook, and two years later he died after a long illness.

A completely different expression of the 80s is the Plumy seating furniture. Designed by Annie Hiéronimus in 1980 for French Ligne Roset, it was probably a dream piece of furniture for every girl's teenage room at the time, especially the bubblegum pink version. As a very luxurious alternative to the sack, which otherwise had a given place in many homes at this time. A period when softly baggy seating was loved as much as its more rigidly designed companions from the same generation. After a few years of dormancy, the Plumy range was relaunched in 2016 and is also available as a sofa.

The Sofa With Arms is a small architectural work of art. The chair was designed in 1982 by Japanese Shiro Kuramata for Cappellini. There are both the chromed metal tubes and the slightly softer geometric shapes that unite the era in an excellent way.

Glass as a material generally characterised much of our interior design in the 1980s, whether as pure decoration in the form of vases and sculptures, as a table top, window glass in a display cabinet or as mirror glass on our walls, wardrobe doors or on any other surface that could enlarge and extend the room. Ettore Sottsass's six mirrors in the Dionisio series, designed for Glas Italia, are all examples of the Memphis Group's and the 1980s' fascination with strong colours, geometric shapes and mirrors in particular. Daring, edgy and without strict rules.

A contemporary coffee table is Alanda from B&B Italia, designed by architect and designer Paolo Piva. With its upside-down pyramid-shaped legs and glass top, the table is a classic that went back into production after Piva's death in 2017.

If you love the 80s, there is every opportunity to live it to the fullest, otherwise you can just as easily pick the raisins out of the cake and place your favourite in a completely different context.

In the Metafora Coffee Table we find not only the glass but also another 80s favourite, the marble. It makes up the four unique legs in the form of a cube, a sphere, a cylinder and a pyramid that can be placed freely under the table top. The table was designed for Martinelli Luce by husband and wife team Lella and Massimo Vignelli, who worked together for over 50 years and are responsible for a vast treasure trove of designs from many different fields.

But does 80s design have to be authentic? That is, does it have to come from that particular period? Not at all. The decade's palette of expressions continues to inspire today's designers. From Dusty Deco in 2020 came the DD Arco Armchair, a wonderfully playful armchair in the spirit of the Memphis Group.

Several brands also offer rugs that openly flirt with the era, such as Tacchini's Rituala Rug with its geometric shapes or Color Carpet 05 from Danish HAY in pastel colour blocks. And there is much more to find, characterised by a decade that was both wild and shapely in terms of style. A time filled with colour, form and materials in an ambivalent and uncensored time. A time filled with the joy of design.

If you love the 80s, there is every opportunity to live it to the fullest, otherwise you can just as easily pick the raisins out of the cake and place your favourite in a completely different context.

Products featured in the post

Colour Carpet 05

HAY