MADE BY LIFE - HOW PFLEIDERER TRANSLATES TRENDS INTO SURFACES

"It's actually quite simple: trends are created by people's lifestyles." For Christiane Gebert, the head of Pfleiderer's design and development department, decors evolve as a logical consequence of social changes: "Individuality, mobility, demographic changes – people's everyday lives lead to long-term, global social shifts. And people's lives influence design." Megatrends develop over decades, and inherently slowly. "However," says Christiane Gebert, "a new factor has been added that accelerates or reinforces individual trends: the pandemic."

The expertise of a company like Pfleiderer lies in recognizing trends early, and then translating them into a spectrum of decors that appeal to all target groups and are suitable for all uses. The engineered wood specialist has defined five trend themes, and based the development of its new decors on these, albeit with caution: "This year, we are launching around a third fewer new decors than usual. The reason for this is that we already offer an extremely wide spectrum, and our customers are more hesitant when it comes to new additions to the portfolio. Many themes have already been successfully on the market for a long time; we have therefore tended to rely more on the unusual, and closed gaps."

"New urban life" is one of the social topics the decor developments are based on. In cities, our homes must fulfil a wide range of functions in a confined space. Organizing rooms has therefore become more important than ever before. The pandemic has added a new aspect: "People pay more attention to safety and social distancing in public spaces. The same applies in the workplace, on public transport and in retail shops:" The core of the second theme, "Reduce to the max", is tidy spaces: "We are going back to the basics, decluttering, reducing, and thereby simplifying life," says Christiane Gebert. In times that are perceived as uncertain, people are looking for comfort, warmth and safety. They are retreating into their familiar surroundings. The two themes "Home" and "Sense & Sensibility" reflect this. Enjoying your home, and welcoming family and close friends into it, is very important. At the same time, the concept of 'Home', in all of its senses, is becoming more important again – not in a possessive way, but as an expression of slowing down and mindfulness," Gebert emphasizes. Eating locally produced food and using traditional materials are expressions of this trend. With the last theme, "Back to the future", we are already looking forward to the post-Covid era with optimism: a new lightheartedness, and the desire for a change of scenery prevail. In keeping with the motto of "freshen up your home", an unconventional style mix, as well as fresh colors and materials, create a relaxed, cheerful atmosphere.

"In all interior styles, mixing materials plays a major role. Especially metal finishes are currently adding accents in this respect. We have developed various mother-of-pearl decors that are perfectly staged by our new brushed metal texture 'Steel', and the theme of 'Home', for example, is expressed in the form of warm, cozy materials, primarily with striking woods and craftsmanship." The light-colored, planked "Maryland Oak", as well as the sand-colored base of the expansive stone decor "Jupiter Sand", match the theme of "Sense & Sensibility" and create a warm, cozy ambience. The new wood decors "Aberdeen" light and dark, for example, striped oak decors that are particularly suitable for purist designs, represent "Reduce to the max". "It actually looks quite simple," says Christiane Gebert. However, Pfleiderer's new decors are the result of a long process. "That is what's so exciting in our line of work. We don't merely design surfaces, but are, like all good designers, also sociologists, future researchers and, to a very small extent, even clairvoyants."