In the last few years Japandi style has become more popular. This is interesting to me because in Australia, Japanese style elements are not overly popular compared to other styles like Mid-Century Modern or Hamptons for example. So what is Japandi style?
In all my years as an interior designer, only one client has asked for a Japanese style home office. At the time this meant, the use of familiar Japanese themes and motifs. For example, the colour red, Shoji screens, and dark woods. But Japandi is much more interesting than this.
Hygge
Essentially, Japandi is a fusion of Scandinivian and Japanese lifestyle and aesthetic ideaology. For example, the concept of hygge in Scandinavian (mostly Denmark and Norway) interior design? It encompasses a ‘mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment’.
As an interior designer I particularly like working with styles that try to communicate a way of living. Rather than pure aesthetics. Interior design is a visual communication language. But it can also communicate subjective concepts as well. This is a real challenge.
But the concept of Hygge is a key aspect to Japandi style. A fusion of Scandinavian and Japanese ideas around wellbeing.
Wabi Sabi
Japandi is a blend of hygge and wabi sabi. Wabi sabi is also a concept ‘centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.[2] The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of appreciating beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” in nature.’
So at the core Japanese and Scandinavian styles have a lot in common. For example, the use of natural materials, minimalism and imperfection. Comfort and sustainability are also important principles of Japandi interior style.
Fundamentally each interior design style emanates from cultural history. It’s a reflection of a period time, a way of life and certain values. Interior design aims to honour these styles in a personalised way for each client.
So, fusing concepts in a deeper way, like in Japandi style is exciting. A mesh of east and west, as we’ve seen in Chinoiserie but with a more nuanced and affective outcome.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash – cover image
