My blog earlier this month which focussed on a wondrous chair design, More blobs and globules: Emotive simplicity, was an exercise in demonstrating that minimalism does not have to be bland or cold. The shortcoming of the minimalist look, which seems to have come to dominate the acceptable approach of contemporary design, is that it is usually completely neutral in every sense. There is no reason why the genre cannot have a little something added in - a colour, a shape, a curve, an element more evocative - and still remain under the umbrella of minimalism. After all, minimalism is only the name for the infinitely reduced, the pared-down, the elemental. I also suspect that this is the way the genre will evolve next in the future.
I stumbled across these images of these beguiling minimalist interiors. They represent perfect minimalist design but their palette of blues is additional. They remain squeaky-clean but infinitely more interesting. I can't look at them and not think of the sea. Are these the ultimate in cool?
