Discussing Bohemian Home Décor Trends with Justina Blakeney

Image Source: http://www.justinablakeney.com/

The author of the book “The New Bohemians Handbook: Come Home to Good Vibes” and founder of the Jungalow brand, the inspiring home décor blog, Instagram and Pinterest, Justina Blakeney spoke at the Summer 2018 NY NOW Market about trends that she sees in the Home Décor space and more. I sat enamored up front as Justina spoke about her meteoric rise to fame and the aesthetic sense that helped her stand out. Through this blog, I wish to take you through my notes on Justina’s unique perspective on the industry.

She began the talk by describing the trends that she's begun to see at this edition of NY NOW. Justina has noticed the use of lots of texture, pattern and color while mixing the aesthetics of different cultures. She has also seen designers incorporating a lot natural materials like chunky wools and knits and macrame with natural colours while then mixing these naturals with the supernatural through the use of rainbow assortment of colors.

What does Justina see as the difference in Home Décor trends between the East and West coast of the US?

Surprisingly, Justina said that the East Coast feels more laid back in terms of design than the West. She had visited Vegas Market 2018 earlier in the year where she felt that there was a lot more glam with the use of a lot of metallic accent pieces. However, the NY NOW Summer 2018 show features more textural products that you want to reach out and feel them between your fingers. As a result, the show overall feels more cozy and laid back. Justina also described her own theory that as a direct reaction to the tumultuous socio political climate of the country at the moment, more attention seems to be paid to sustainability and fair trade products. She was excited that these products are now showing up in a big way. 

What does Justina see as the new and exciting ways that plants are being displayed?

Plant displays are changing. She believes that plants are becoming a more acceptable decorative accessory, while they were not seen this way when Justina first started her blog. She is also seeing a lot of vertical usage of plants which is great for small space living. People are figuring out ways that they can hang their plants from the ceiling or by putting them on their walls. Justina is also seeing a lot more glass vessels lately where you can actually see the soil. While the soil was always hidden away, we are now about to see it for the first time. She ties this back into the current socio political mood that maybe this is a reaction where people want to show everything to the world and not hide anything that's not perfect.

What colours is Justina she seeing and what does she enjoy?

Justina has noticed a specific colour palette increasing in use these days. She described it as such: if you took a rainbow and added some grey and white paint thus using bright colours but slightly more muted. Thus, she is seeing the use of terracotta, teal, mustards, golds and other earth tones. These are bright colors that have a kick to them that and can be great accent colors.

Other than trends, people also asked a lot of questions about Justina's prowess at social media. We thought that the following question on video content for social media was the most relevant to how younger brands are interacting with their followers.

What does Justina see as the role of video content for Instagram?

Video content is become more and more important but brands tend to overdo it and make the whole content creation prowess too overweening. According to Justina, the most compelling content is the one that's the most authentic. Nobody cares about high production value in Instagram but trying to capture things in the moment and expressing your own or brand's personality in an easy low tech way that is more effective. She also believes that video is the favourite for the algorithms on Instagram and that her Instagram page sees a 30% vs 5% discovery of videos vs still photos. This means that 30% of the people who viewed her videos were people who didn't already follow her, this giving Justina’s brand a huge boost among people who don't know her.

Takeaways For Your Own Home

For your own home, you can look to use the color pallete that Justina described, a muted and earthy color pallete that is still colorful. These colors, while combined with texture through the use of textured accent pillows or throws would help bring a coziness to your home. You could also add to this with the use of Macrame pieces as art for your wall or even as other accent pieces.