DIGEST | ABI HANAH

The Return of Retro Glam: Late Mid-Century Design for Modern Homes

2 min read

Discover how to bring late mid-century modern style into your home this autumn.

From warm earthy colours to velvet textures and statement pieces, here’s how to celebrate retro glam without it looking dated.

There’s a playful yet sophisticated trend making its way back into our homes this autumn, Late mid-century modern design with a sultry, disco-inspired twist.

Think Studio 54 glamour meets contemporary chic: velvet textures, curved furniture, warm earthy tones, and that effortless 70s cool.

Unlike many interior trends that fade in and out, mid-century design has never lost its appeal. From David Hicks’ bold geometrics in The Shining to Mario Bellini’s iconic Camaleonda sofa, the influence of the 70s remains timeless.

This look is fun, sexy, confident, and it still feels fresh today.

So, how do you bring retro glam into your home without it looking like your nan’s avocado-green kitchen? Here’s how to nail the look.

1. Embrace Warm, Earthy Colours

Colour sets the tone for mid-century interiors. This season, focus on rich, grounding shades such as:

Chocolate browns
Burnt oranges
Olive greens
Mushroom hues with purple undertones

These colours add instant depth and warmth, creating a space that feels inviting and chic.

2. Add Layers of Texture

Mid-century design thrives on tactile contrast. To achieve this:

Pair velvet cushions with geometric rugs
Incorporate walnut or teak wood furniture
Introduce natural stone accents like marble or travertine

Texture is what elevates the style, making your home look curated rather than retro in the wrong way.

3. Choose a Statement Piece

Every space needs a hero element to draw the eye. Consider:

A low-slung mid-century sofa
A curved armchair
A sculptural mushroom lamp

These statement pieces instantly anchor the room and embody the confidence of 70s interiors.

4. Balance with Chrome

To keep the look fresh, offset the warmth of earthy tones with metallics. Chrome, whether in lighting, side tables, or decorative objects, adds a sleek, modern balance.

Why Mid-Century Glam Works Today

This isn’t just a nostalgic revival. Mid-century modern design works because it’s timeless, versatile, and effortlessly stylish.

It’s bold without being overwhelming, sophisticated yet playful. Adding even one or two elements of retro glam can transform your home into a space that feels curated, confident, and always in style.

So go ahead, add a little 70s soul to your interiors this season.

Abi x

The Season Turns: Embracing Earthy Elegance at Home

2 min read

The first day of autumn always feels like a quiet reset, the air cools, the light mellows, and our homes begin to call for a softer, more grounded kind of beauty.

This year, design is leaning into that instinct with a palette drawn directly from the earth itself: layers of rich browns, warm taupes, clay shades, and toasted neutrals that feel at once luxurious and deeply comforting.

Brown, long overlooked in favour of bolder hues, is stepping into the spotlight with a newfound sophistication. It is the colour of aged leather, polished walnut, and soft soil after rain, shades that whisper rather than shout, but in doing so create interiors of real depth and gravitas.

When woven through with muted terracottas, subtle ochres, and the occasional grounding black, the result is a scheme that feels timeless, tactile and thoroughly modern.

The key to incorporating these tones at home lies in layering. Start with the quieter foundations: perhaps a textured rug in a mushroom shade, or a chalky clay wall colour that acts as a backdrop. From there, build warmth with walnut side tables, coffee-coloured cushions, or hand-thrown ceramics in earthy glazes.

Even the smallest accents, a caramel-toned throw across an armchair, or a cluster of candles in sand and bark shades can shift the atmosphere of a room towards something altogether more cocooning.

For those tempted by a bolder gesture, darker browns, chocolate, espresso, even near-black umber can be used to dramatic effect on walls or upholstery. These tones envelop a room with an almost architectural weight, working beautifully in bedrooms, snug corners, dining rooms or studies where atmosphere is paramount.

This autumn is about interiors that feel both elemental and elevated, homes that ground us in natural beauty while offering a quiet sense of sophistication.

By leaning into brown and its earthy companions, we create spaces that aren’t just seasonal, but enduring; places where design feels in rhythm with the world outside.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing a curated edit of pieces that embody this palette, designs that will slip seamlessly into your home and bring with them autumn’s earthy embrace.

For now, as the season begins, I encourage you to look around your own spaces and ask: where might a whisper of walnut, a touch of clay, or a layer of soft soil brown bring warmth and elegance to your everyday?

After all, it is in these subtler gestures that true luxury is found.

Here are a few curated items to get us going

Abi Hanah x

BRUTALISM & INTERIOR DESIGN

2 min read

Updated: Sep 15

Brutalist architecture has been working its way back into the eyes of us design lovers for some time now. So much so that I feel I'm a little late on this one…

Much like fashion, interior and architectural design comes and goes in cycles. I can see brutalism influencing interior design more and more, especially within the last few years. It’s strong, raw materials and imposing structures are making their way proudly into the hands of interior designers in the form of furniture, but also in the form of the materials we are using. I’m loving this era of architecture being reinvented into modern day design, it's subtly imposing with simplicity and strength combined.

It may not be as strongly apparent as it was in its prime but if you analyse our interior trends enough you will see that brutalist practices are more pronounced than we realised. Our use of concrete in interiors has been such a strong design element of late and its here to stay for quite some time. This design trend stems massively from Brutalism, concrete was the main material used in this practice since it was cheap and accessible post war.

The word Brutalism in fact comes from the french term, beton brut, literally meaning raw concrete, which is exactly what this form of architecture represents. Raw unfinished materials. Much like the ongoing industrial trend.

Brutalist inspired kitchen island designed by Dominic Pandolfini

The reinvention of brutalism in todays design is slightly more luxurious. Kelly Wreastler is a prime example of this. Her furniture collection speaks brutalist luxe.

She's created artistically formed furniture that gives a respectful nod to brutalist design. Her use of unconventional materials sits impressively with me. This woman is quite literally the queen of contrast!

When you look back at the history of the buildings created in brutalism you discover that these were geometric art forms. Although Brutalism has a bad rep at times, a lot of people associate it with deteriorating tower blocks that haven't aged well. Granted, these aren't the best examples, but my eyes still see some form of ironic beauty in these inner city giants. Brutalist architecture done right is simply incredible, they’re some of the most impacting structures I have ever laid eyes on.

Brion Vega cemetery - Treviso Italy - Carlo Scarpa

4 Geisel Library - San Diego - William Pereira & Associates 1970

Sadly soon to be deomilished - The Welbeck Street Car Park - Michael Blampied & Partners - 1970

Swiss Medical Research Foundation - Jack Vicajee Bertoli - Geneva Switzerland 1976

St Joseph‘s Hospital - Bertrand Goldberg Associates - Washington 1974

Battle of Sutjeska Memorial Monument - Republic of Srpska - Bosnia - Miodrag Živković & Ranko Radovic 1971