I see faces

Toy design blending-in with home accessories is emerging as an adult way cope with loneliness and also as a way to add empathetic elements to home, hospitality and even work spaces. Pottery, lamps, cushions commercial success of cute, charismatic and almost-alive character This trend celebrates storytelling, character design and authenticity, leading to decor designs that are infused with charm, nostalgia and companionship.

Humanized objects bring energy and expression to interiors through emotions, vibrant patterns, confident colors, and aesthetics related to moods and emotions, all rooted in a sense of human connection beyond the objects function themselves.

A lil back-context: adding human faces to home accessories is not a new thing, this Peruvian Pre-Columbian home pottery is an archeological proof that our fascination for humanizing or creating functional objects with faces is way more ancient than a “trend”.

The brief humanizing of non-sentient objects could be a part of people’s natural desire to seek out connections in their everyday lives, we're sort of hardwired to connect with other people, and sometimes that extends to other things who aren't people".

The human need of anthropomorphizing household

When people feel sympathy for inanimate objects, they are anthropomorphizing, attributing human behaviors or feelings to animals or objects who cannot feel the same emotions as we do.

The exact reason people do this is unclear, but experts have  some guesses: Kim Egel suggests that sometimes, the feelings are attached to objects that a person has had for a while and now finds to be sentimental or nostalgic, reminding them of a different time in their life.

One thing is truth: projections based on the last 3 years sales data envision that by 2025 (Tiger of Sweden, Urban Outfitters) that if a home accessory has a face on it- it will be best seller. TikTok also shows an interesting emerging trend: there’s a clear pull towards giving human names to furniture and household accessories, like these elements where friends or co-living creatures. Most of the time, it is something that’s normal for people to do, and oftentimes, can be a sign that in “solo-living times” feeling empathy for objects with faces allows us to connect with people and objects in ways that we wouldn’t otherwise.

I hope you enjoyed this, if you have ideas, questions or suggestions regarding my next newsletter’s content, just drop me a line at [email protected] - I'd love to hear from you!

I saved the best for the end, I have an Invitation for you all: My friends from Cosentino are opening their secret warehouse’s doors for a unique event where I’ll be lecturing on Future Interiors 2025. The event is October 10th at 10.00 am. Join! it’s free for Interior Affairs subscribers. Lecture is planned to be a short yet powerful session of 45 mins where you’ll have the opportunity to visit a rare space in Vilnius surrounded by Cosetino massive stones, tasty bites and discuss interior trends with a keen vision on blended spaces or omni-living. Register here.

Take (great) care, always,

Love,

Victoria