This article features five extravagant rooms that embrace maximalist interior design, with clashing colours, dramatic furnishings, and mismatched patterns.
Maximalism is an art and design style that defies the norms of minimalism. Instead, exuberance is encouraged, as is the anarchic use of pattern, colour, and texture.
According to Claire Bingham, author of the book More is More, the Memphis Group – the 1980s design and architectural group famed for its aggressive postmodern designs – is responsible for the style.
However, as this compilation shows, maximalism is still making an impact today, with designers applying the style to the interiors of our homes as well as public areas.
Table of Contents
1. Hotel Les Deux Gares, France, by Luke Edward Hall
This hotel in Paris by British designer Luke Edward Hall features a discordant combination of pea-green walls, leopard-print furniture, and candy-striped mattresses. The five-story structure had been abandoned for some years, but when Luke Edward Hall was hired to design the interiors, the goal was not to make the rooms appear more modern. The hotel is accessed through a vibrant lobby in which Hall has produced a wild clash of pattern and colour. The lower half of the walls are pea-green, while the top half is covered in chintzy, pastel blue wallpaper with a maroon design. The flooring is black-and-white chevron.
2. Casa TEC 205, Mexico, by Moneo Brock
The Casa TEC 205 apartment in Monterrey was created by architecture company Moneo Brock as a “homage” to the work of the country’s iconic architect Luis Barragán. The three-story Casa TEC 205 is laid out in a staggered fashion down a hill, with outdoor nooks alternating between internal volumes. The walls, which intersect in various directions and vary in height and length, are erected around a number of huge trees that Moneo Brock intended to protect during construction.
3. Rookies, Germany, by Stephanie Thatenhorst
Stephanie Thatenhorst’s fun interior design for this Munich children’s optician includes triangular patterned tiles and eyewear-dispensing equipment. The speciality store, Rookies, is located in Munich’s city centre and is owned by German eyeglasses company Leidmann. Thatenhorst, a local interior designer, saw the shop as a “noisy, crazy, and distinctive paradise for children,” with all seating and product displays tailored to their height. The walls and ceilings are encased in green and white triangular tiles, and glasses are sparsely displayed on apricot-coloured shelves, creating a space full of unique textures and vibrant colours.
4. Austin Proper Hotel and Residences, USA, by Kelly Wearstler
In her design for the Austin Proper Hotel and Residences, interior designer Kelly Wearstler includes eye-catching touches like antique carpets and a white wood staircase that serves as a ceramics exhibit. A sculptural staircase constructed of white oak wood with tiered balustrades serves as a focal point. The underside of the staircase steps has been shown to provide a fascinating backdrop, while a ziggurat of plinths below is utilised to display a variety of glazed earthenware pots and vases.
5. Mondrian Hotel, Qatar, by Marcel Wanders
Columns studded with golden eggs, elaborate mosaic walls, and massive bell-shaped lighting are just a few of the unusual elements designed by Marcel Wanders for the interiors of Doha’s Mondrian hotel. The atrium is dominated by a four-story-high black helical staircase that leads to an observation platform. The balustrades are ornately cut out, and the soffit is gently curved like the underside of a slide. Giant lamps illuminate the sitting spaces, which are mostly completed in beige-coloured soft furnishings that mirror the colour palette of Qatar’s deserts.
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