That black leather couch that looked so 1980s just yesterday is suddenly hip again. Taking its cue from what's happening on fashion runways, black is all the rage in interior design. But we're not talking your standard, run-of-the-mill black; in its latest incarnation, this most enduring and stable of 'colours' has tints of chocolate and toffee, lending it a new, more subtle, hue.
'The colour is being used for accent pieces, or to highlight a single part of a room,' says Sybil van Dijs, founder of SJvD Design in Los Angeles and the president of the American Society of Interior Designers, Los Angeles chapter. She describes another variation on black as the kind of colour you would see on a piece of chinoiserie or lacquered furniture.
New York-based furnishing fabrics designer Lulu de Kwiat-kowski has painted an entire wall in her apartment black (rather than red, the feature colour of choice a few years ago).
Dwellings, another American retailer, is interpreting the shade in everything from ceiling fixtures to armchairs. At Crate & Barrel, which has shops across the United States, popular sellers from the Lotus collection include black side tables, consoles and stacking shelves.
Van Dijs, who has worked on projects in Singapore, Manila and Brunei, says the look is not for those seeking a timeless interior because the trend is unlikely to last. If someone wants to try it, she suggests using a singular focal point in black, such as a coffee table, an armoire or a wall.
