2019 home trends from Exclusively Housewares

Last month I visited the Exclusively Housewares show at the Business Design Centre in London. It’s the UK’s premier showcase of housewares, tabletop and small domestic appliance brands. It’s audience is mainly buyers for large retailers across the UK and so a great opportunity to see what home trends we’re going to see in our shops in 2019. Some trends are already established whilst others are still emerging – read on to see my highlights from Exclusively Housewares 2018.

Copper and marble

Copper (or rose gold) and marble are still going strong for 2019. Despite many interior designers and home-owners moving on to brass and gold as their metallic of choice, copper was still more prevalent at Exclusively Housewares – especially in kitchen appliances.

There have also been some murmurings of terrazzo taking over marble. I’ve seen a little bit of this at Exclusively Housewares, but marble is still the number 1 stoneware that we want in our homes. It’s not the affordable option in the UK and so having touches of marble in our housewares is a more cost-effective way to get the look.

Tower Housewares

Tower Housewares

Metaltex copper kitchen storage solutions

Daewoo Electricals

Pastel and matt black

Marble and warm metallics such as copper, brass or gold pair beautifully with both pastel and matt black. This makes mixing and matching amongst products across brands much easier. Exclusively Housewares had two defined looks in their brand showcase area – the more sophisticated matt blacks and warm metallics and the more playful and laid-back pastels and natural materials.

Le Creuset and Berghoff Worldwide

Maxwell & Williams Caviar

Denby Pottery

Maxwell & Williams Tint

Maxwell & Williams Tint

Denby Pottery

Serious coffee

You know that advert for no-nonsense coffee? Well this is for those of you who do take your coffee seriously! I’ve tried all sorts of coffee machines and products and finally settled on a Nespresso machine a few years ago. But coffee culture has moved on a lot since I last tried and tested some products. There are some really fantastic gadgets available that not only look amazing, but also produce the perfectly brewed cuppa.

Bodum cork pour over

Bodum

One area of coffee innovation that I’ve seen is in the brew-and-go market. We’re all becoming more aware of our environmental footprint with many of us taking our own travel cup to a coffee shop. But many of us are realising that we can make that same cup of coffee at home and just take it with us and save a few pennies along the way. I love the stojo range for practicality and Bodum for style!

Stojo

Barista & Co brew stick coffee infuser

Bar culture

Similarly to the coffee drinking culture – more and more of us are taking our bar culture more seriously at home. We’re opting to throw cocktail parties at home over meeting in a bar for drinks and so we’re investing in our own collections. No longer is it acceptable to hand someone a tumbler of G&T… it now has to include a selection of garnishes in a fancy long-stemmed gin glass and served from a brass drinks trolley. And do you know what? I love it! LSA International has the most fabulous range of glassware and I’ve been a huge fan since I had the opportunity to review a selection a few years ago.

LSA International

LSA International

Innovation

If you get really excited about new technology and gadgets, then you’ll love the design detail that’s gone into these. I’ve just picked out a few highlights as I would need a whole blog post to cover all the home innovation on show at Exclusively housewares! The ones that I’ve picked are all products that I’d love myself and I’ll tell you why too. Firstly, there’s Veritable which is a super-smart indoor garden system. Each has space for four ‘lingots’ which are seed pods that include all the nutrients needed to grow healthy and bountiful herbs, greens and baby veg. Clever LED lighting adjusts it’s intensity automatically depending on natural light available. They also look so stylish and architectural with a range of colour options to suite all kitchens.

Véritable®

New Soda are a design company based in Henley-on-Thames which make fun kitchenware products. Their products are those kids of items that you think ‘why has no one designed one of these before!?’. They crowdsource many of their ideas and encourage people to write in with their ‘big idea’. Products like the big peeler take the hassle out of peeling butternut squash, pumpkins and other awkward veg! You’d have seen some of their wares in your local household shop – they’re fun items that just make life that little bit easier.

I also spent quite a bit of time speaking with the team from Joseph Joseph. I’ve reviewed their recycle bin stacking system as wall as their beautifully designed kitchen accessories before and I’m always impressed with their innovation.

Conscious Living

I wrote a post recently about the PETA vegan homeware awards and we’re seeing many more brands responding to an increasing demand in ethical, vegan and natural products for the home. Cork, bamboo, metal and glass are replacing many plastics as we continue to search for more ways to lessen our environmental impact.

Black + Blum really impressed me with their range of sustainable lunch boxes, water bottles and thermoses. Binchotan charcoal replace plastic water filters. Binchotan active charcoal has been used in Japan as a water purifier since the 17th century. It reduces chlorine and naturally balances the ph.

Black + Blum charcoal water filter

Bees wraps

Bees wrap from Eddingtons is a fantastic sustainable food storage solution. Made of beeswax, organic cotton, organic jojoba oil and tree resin. All you do is warm the wrap in your hands to soften and mould so that when it cools, it creates a seal and keeps its shape. Simply wash and reuse! I’ll certainly be using these over cling-film or foil in future. It’s also something that you can take with you to the supermarket cheese or ham counter and ask them to package it directly rather than using plastics.

Exclusively Housewares was such a great show and definitely one I won’t miss next year! I’m particularly loving how many brands are taking their design and conscious living more seriously and that’s certainly something that I’ll be investing in more around my own home.

Natalia xo