This month I had the much-anticipated pleasure of experiencing an intense couple of days at the Salone del Mobile during Milan Design Week.

Tiffany Grant Riley (in the middle) visiting Lzf´s booth at Euroluce 2017.
On the right, Marivi Calvo & Sandro Tothill, Lzf Lamp’s founders

Whilst it was impossible to see the entire show in that time, I did manage to look in on the LZF team at Euroluce, view the latest designs in the flesh and gather in my mind a sense of what trends will endure over the next year or so.

It was no surprise to me that pink remained a strong colour, making a regular appearance in a variety of shades, strengths and forms. Considered a ‘new neutral’, pink no longer carries ultra sickly, overtly feminine connotations. In fact, this association with gender only really came into play in the mid 20th Century, whereas it was previously a masculine colour, symbolic of strength and warfare, taken as a derivative of red.

The new pink to introduce into the home isn’t a garish, bright shade but something much more sophisticated – think paler, dirtier, like setting plaster. Speaking of which, having recently re-plastered the walls in our bedroom, we loved the soothing tone and texture so much that we decided to leave them that way.

But why is it so popular? It’s no surprise that ‘Millennial Pink’ had become the androgynous colour of our generation. From an emotional perspective, it has a calming influence, it encourages sensitivity. It works seamlessly with any number of colour combinations; from the dark and moody palette of muddy greens, terracotta and burgundy, to the lighter palette of soft grey, white and pastel shades.

Working with it tone on tone can be particularly striking, although not for the faint hearted. Try introducing it through accessories if you’re keen to try it at home but don’t want to go all out – perhaps as cushions on your sofa, soft linen bedding, a lamp shade?

With the introduction of several new designs including Banga and Stitch, LZF have added pink to their catalogue of veneers. The blushing panels of the Escape designed by Ray Power in its full pink effect was nothing sort of  magical, inviting you to stay a while and relax, away from the bustle of the Salone. It might not be for everyone, but I’m pretty sure a colour with credentials as positive as this will be happy to stick around for a while.

Written by Tiffany Grant-Riley for Lzf Lamps

Tiffany Grant-Riley is the founder and writer of Curate & Display – a home and lifestyle blog where good independent design is at its heart. An interior stylist by trade, she finds pleasure in collecting house plants, photography, motherhood and being a minimalist.