Every decade has its own design-based shorthand: The 90s are all about minimalism and the rise of chain store—i.e. Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel—chic, while the 80s still scream glossy lacquered surfaces and neon accents. And what of the 70s? Lest you think this decade is just code for lava lamps, avocado-colored refrigerators, and synthetic materials, well, think again.
Rather, 70s interior design is about the maybe paradoxical embrace of not only earthy, natural materials, as in woven wall hangings or chairs in startlingly organic shapes, but also the supernatural and the psychedelic, as in UFO-shaped pendant lamps and acid trip-referencing wallpaper. Homes of that era were explosions of patterns and color, macrame and tie-dye; those were heady—one could fairly say cluttered—times.
The updated 70s-style home differs from the original iteration by understanding that while, yes, sometimes more is more, there’s also appeal in a pared down version of the past. Think a white porcelain avocadp-shaped planter, rather than a full-set of avocado-colored appliances; or a single wall with a slash of riotously colored and patterned wallpaper, rather than a room full of it. Updating style is more about reference than replication, and, sometimes, that’s more than enough.
ITEMS (above):
Peacock Wallpaper available at Flat Vernacular flatvernacular.com
Lily Pendant Lamp available at Collyer’s Mansion 368 Stratford Road, Ditmas Park
Sette available at Journey Brooklyn 72 Front Street, DUMBO
Chen and Kai Avocado Planter available at Mociun 224 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg
Solar Weaving available at Nightwood, nightwoodny.com
Knot Pillow available at Electric Nest 60 Broadway, Williamsburg
