LX Hausys Holds ‘TRENDSHIP,’ a 2023 Design Trend Exhibition and Forum

Interior keyword is ‘SOFTWHERE’; spotlight on the ‘home’ that has evolved into a multifunctional space

Metaverse-based TRENDSHIP forum, with a pop-up exhibition space set up at ‘Musinsa Terrace Seongsu’

LX Hausys has held ‘TRENDSHIP,’ an exhibition and forum event introducing 2023 interior design trends, and proposed ‘SOFTWHERE’ — a keyword capturing the meaning of a space where technology, the environment, and people are connected — as this year’s core theme.

Through this TRENDSHIP, LX Hausys drew attention to how, alongside the rapid advancement of IT technology during the pandemic, the home has evolved beyond a simple resting space into a multifunctional space for work, hobbies, and communication, and it forecast that spaces built on the ‘Softwhere’ concept — where technology, the environment, and people are gently connected — will trend going forward. As the space-by-space design themes that make up the ‘Softwhere’ concept, the company presented three: ▲‘Scenesory,’ signifying an emotional retreat where one can feel nature with all five senses even indoors; ▲‘Monologue,’ an unchanging, solid sanctuary that reflects a consumption trend valuing social and environmental worth; and ▲‘White Night,’ signifying a dreamlike escape where reality and the virtual coexist through digital media.

In addition, LX Hausys ran a variety of trend-experience events through diverse channels — including an offline pop-up exhibition space and an online metaverse — so that anyone could easily experience the space trends of the three themes. At the TRENDSHIP forum held in the metaverse space, the company introduced the major design trends of 2023 and unveiled ‘2023 Trendy Home,’ a 3D virtual space that looks as if the three design themes had actually been installed inside a real apartment. Along with this, LX Hausys set up a pop-up exhibition space at ‘Musinsa Terrace Seongsu,’ a fashion and culture curation space, during the TRENDSHIP period. This is part of a strategy to broadly promote LX Hausys’s own original design to the MZ generation, who have emerged as a mainstay of interior consumption, in Seoul’s Seongsu-dong, which has recently risen as a trend mecca. An LX Hausys official said, “In previous years we held design trend seminars targeting industry insiders and experts, but this year we have expanded them into the TRENDSHIP event so that anyone, including general customers, can experience trend content more easily,” adding, “We will continue to propose interior trends that reflect our customers’ lifestyles, introduce them through diverse channels, and communicate more closely with our customers.”

Design Theme Ⅰ Scenessory An emotional retreat explored through the five senses

Because of COVID-19, people — whether by choice or not — had to adapt to the flood of digital waves such as NFTs, the metaverse, and virtual humans, and, regarding non-contact interaction as a virtue, they reinforced their own online worlds. Digital technology is now evolving in various ways to provide not just convenience but emotional comfort. Yet, as a counterbalance, the instinct to explore the world with the five senses and to long for nature is growing just as strong. Accordingly, the ‘Scenesory’ theme focuses on the sensory deprivation brought on by a non-contact digital society, the desire for primal sensation, and the multisensory design forms meant to restore them. Building on a spatial composition and staging that can satisfy the five senses, it uses soil and red brick — materials that are comfortable and let you feel texture well — as its main materials. However, care must be taken so that the space does not look excessively rustic or feel rough.

Design Theme Ⅱ Monologue The reasoned soliloquy of the ethical lifestyler

A monologue is a dramatic technique of dialogue used when a character is alone on stage to convey their own perspective, feelings, opinions, or reflections to the audience. Derived from this, this theme deals with ethical luxury, which prizes social values and the environment above all else. Those who quietly enjoy an ethical lifestyle in line with their beliefs want people who share similar values to notice this and stand in solidarity with them. The ‘Monologue’ theme examines the current generation, who establish their own values and beliefs and focus on self-loving elements, and discusses how this phenomenon is reflected in design forms. It is a timeless style, subtly refined by adding taste-filled old vintage furniture, art pieces, and ethical design to a space finished cleanly in black and white. In a word, it can be described as a ‘quiet luxury style that does not show off excessively.’

Design Theme Ⅲ White Night An alluring world, boundless, ambiguous, and dreamlike

This theme borrows from the concept of the ‘white night,’ where you cannot tell whether it is day or night — and thus feels all the more unreal and hazy. It is an era in which two phenomena stand opposed like parallel theories: the digital world that has already become everyday life, and the pursuit of the senses of nature that have become non-everyday. Digital is blooming splendidly, and thanks to technological development, imagination and creativity can now be unleashed freely, moving between reality and virtual space. Futurist Arthur C. Clarke’s maxim — that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic — feels more real than ever. The ‘White Night’ theme proposes the surreal fantasy space of the digital bohemian with escapist tendencies. In a style that grafts on the digital mood of the virtual world, it is a place where the boundary between dream and reality grows ambiguous through digital pastel-tone colors and unrealistic objets.

▲ The pop-up exhibition space ‘History Zone’ at ‘Musinsa Terrace Seongsu’

▲ The ‘White Night’ theme of the pop-up exhibition space at ‘Musinsa Terrace Seongsu’

▲ Scenessory A comfortable space was created using finishing materials evocative of a house, such as brick-patterned wallpaper and stucco film.

▲ Scenessory

▲ Monologue By removing the TV and setting furniture here and there as if placing objets, you can create a distinctive living-room atmosphere like a gallery lounge.

▲ Monologue

▲ White Night A fantastical space was created by matching pastel colors with white and adding irregular furniture and props, a fur-material sofa, and futuristic lighting.

▲ White Night