Aug 22
2025

Belcastel is one of the most beautiful villages in the Occitanie region of France. It is picturesquely situated on a hillside between the Averyon River and the castle on the mountain. Photo: kallerma / Wikimedia

Five trends will dominate interior design and interior design in the coming years, according to a study by the Spanish company Cosentino, manufacturer of the engineered stone Silestone and Dekton. They are:
* “Origin,“ meaning a back to the roots;
* “Solace,“ meaning relaxation at home;
* “Nature,“ meaning respect for nature and the battle against climate change;
* “Urban,“ meaning the innovative power of cities;
* “Wonder,“ meaning openness to surprises.

Design journalist Enric Pastor and color expert Judith Van Vliet are the authors of the study.

There is little new here. It is a list of what you read everywhere in the current design and architecture magazines. However, the presentation is very elaborate, with numerous photos and many examples. Browsing through the 162-page brochure is entertaining and even fun.

We would like to focus particularly on the “Origin“ aspect. The authors claim that more and more consumers are interested in products with a local identity. They cite studies that prove this.

We recently noticed something that could also be related to “Origin,” although at the moment differently than expected. During our business trips, we had given ourselves the task of browsing the duty-free shops at the transfer airports.

The result was shocking: From São Paulo to Doha to Shanghai, the same goods are everywhere – the same products from Western culture, from the same Western brands, and usually presented in the same way.

Moreover, the products seem to suit consumers’ tastes, both here and there. This was also evident later at the trade fairs we visited, as well as in the hotels and on the streets there.

Cover of the study (pdf).

Cultural pessimists have long complained about the homogenization that, in their view, accompanies globalization.

Back to “Origin“: As mentioned, we have not and cannot detect any consumer hunger for products with a local flair here or there.

But perhaps the positive feeling young people currently have about belonging to the global brand world could one day turn into the opposite. Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) has already inspected the globe and could one day join a culture of their own choosing, perhaps their own.

We, as natural stone experts, could only welcome this: Firstly, because we love the atmosphere of historic city centers all over the world, and secondly, because stone and durability shape the atmosphere there.

What is curious about the study in this context is that Cosentino’s products have nothing to do with “Origin.“ Silestone and Dekton are industrially manufactured artificial stones and may be produced all over the world using the same recipe and the same processes.

Had they been offered to us for sale in duty-free shops, we would not have been surprised at all.

Download: “Shaping Tomorrow: Future Design & Architecture 2025-2026“ https://static.cosentino.com/cosentino/trend-report/Cosentino-Trend-Report-EN-2025-2026.pdf