We don't issue trend forecasts. But after a year of new commissions, certain themes keep surfacing in the briefs that come through the door. None of these are predictions — they are simply patterns we are seeing.
1. Curves return — but quietly.
For the last five years almost every brief involved at least one curved sofa or barrel-back chair. That impulse has not disappeared; it has matured. Clients still want softness, but they want it integrated rather than declarative. A subtly rolled arm. A gentle taper on a leg. The full-circle drama of 2022 is on its way out.
2. Bouclé is everywhere, and that is fine.
Yes, bouclé is having a moment that has lasted three years and counting. But it deserves it — it wears well, hides crumbs, and feels warm without being heavy. We expect to keep upholstering in it for another two or three years before clients want something with more visible weave.
3. Bronze is replacing chrome.
Brushed brass and warm bronze have decisively displaced chrome and polished nickel in our hardware orders. This is a multi-year shift driven by the broader move away from cool greys towards warm creams and burgundies. We are also seeing more requests for blackened bronze on furniture for darker rooms.
4. The open-plan kitchen is being walled off.
Not entirely. But the trend of recent years — kitchen, dining and living all in one big space — is reversing in larger homes. Clients want a separate "wet kitchen" for serious cooking, and want the dining room defined as its own room rather than a corner of the lounge. This shows up in our briefs as more dedicated dining suites with larger, more formal tables.
5. Reading rooms are back.
The pandemic-era home office is mutating. People kept the dedicated room but no longer want it to look like an office. We are getting more briefs for what clients describe variously as a "reading room", "library", "den" — a single armchair, a small writing table, a wall of books, deliberate softness.
6. Tropical hardwoods, finally.
For decades, Malaysian clients defaulted to imported oak and walnut, mostly because local timber had a reputation for being used in cheap mass furniture. That association is fading. We are getting more briefs that specifically ask for Burmese teak or merbau — locally meaningful timbers, beautifully finished.
This last shift, more than any of the others, feels like a generational change. The next decade of Malaysian interiors looks like it might finally be confident enough to look local.