We chat to Costas Voyatzis, founder and creative director of Yatzer.com, a popular online destination that showcases the best in the field of design
Yatzer is a go-to site for design aficionados. How do you keep up to date with the latest trends and happenings in the design world?
Mainly by reading, travelling and attending design exhibitions around the world. I'm also kept up to date by the designers themselves, who either want to introduce me to their work or present their new work to me each season.
What is your favourite element of your work?
Travelling and meeting creative people. I love being introduced to different cultures through work, and I constantly discover new things and redefine myself in the process.
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Three new trends to look out for in 2017?
1) Greenery: This is Pantone's Colour of the Year for 2017. I believe that it was chosen because we live in a digital world surrounded by screens and because we not only need - but crave - a connection to nature in our daily lives.
2) Tactility in every form: More designers are creating items that are meant to be experienced and utilised through the sense of touch. After all, we need a break from solely feeling touch screens and keyboards with our fingertips.
3) Shades of blue: In nature there is a perfect coexistence of blue and green colour ways. Since Greenery is the Colour of the Year, representing everything that grows in nature, it's only fitting that blue, the colour of the sky, is making a strong statement too.
A trend you wish would go away but won't?
That wherever we travel we tend to see things through the screens of our phones. We feel compelled and obligated to "capture" each moment for social media. It's as if these moments don't happen unless we document them. As much as I love sharing my experiences, part of me wishes we could go back to experiencing things through our own eyes in the moment that they are happening.
A trend you'd like to incorporate into your home?
More nature. But because I travel so much, there's no way I can maintain plants.
If you could visit three design-friendly cities this year, which would they be?
Athens, Stockholm and Paris. I'm lucky that I live in the first city and will be visiting the other two soon.
Visit yatzer.com or follow Costas on Instagram @yatzer
LET THIS MOODBOARD INSPIRE YOU TO BRING 2017'S KEY TRENDS INTO YOUR HOME
“Thorny” collection of furniture, lighting fixtures and ceramics, by Elad Yifrach of L’Objet
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Brilliant Box by Simon Legald for Normann Copenhagen
Cacti family by sculptor Lina Cofán for Hay (2016)
Catch Lounge Chair by Jaime Hayon for &tradition
Jungle wallpaper collection by Maison Pierre Frey
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Primates, ceramic monkey vases by Elena Salmistraro for Bosa
Tint throw blankets by Anne Lehmann for Normann Copenhagen
The “Gregorian Series” of sculptures by London-based studio Giles Miller
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