Outdoor Trends for 2018 including wabi-sabi…

With offices on both sides of the Atlantic (North America and the UK) Solus gets a unique insight into the plans of designers and architects.

 

It always leads to some interesting observations and noticeable trends such as water conscious gardening, embracing imperfections and smart home and garden automation.

The Solus Dome water feature embracing wabi-sabi

Water conscious gardening is a movement towards the more considered use of water for outdoor settings. This extends from understanding the most efficient uses of water during droughts to the most elegant uses in water-rich environments. Particularly in drought prone areas outdoor landscape designs are using more appropriate plants, storing and re circulating rainwater and installing irrigation systems that water the roots directly. In more water-rich environments gardeners are installing water features and water gardens to maximise the ambiance of their gardens and outdoor patios.

Smart home automation has been a major trend that is being seen throughout Europe and North America. Products like Amazon Echo and Google Home (that allow you to control everything in your home from your thermostat to your lighting) have made home automation achievable in any home or setting. This trend has been carried outdoors into gardens and outdoor spaces. Firepits, water features, hot tubs, irrigation systems and outdoor lighting are all examples of products that can now be controlled by smart devices. Solus Decor’s water features and electronic ignition firepits can be hooked up to home automation systems.

 

Elevated Halo fire table in Portland

The Japanese philosophy of embracing imperfection, called wabi-sabi, has become an industry buzz word of late. For gardens using or recycling materials like concrete, stone and wood and avoiding the use of plastics or synthetics wherever possible. These natural materials all are beautiful because of their imperfections and they help reflect the organic nature of a garden. At Solus we embrace this philosophy with concrete product features that are hand cast and imperfectly perfect.

 

For further information on any Solus product please contact us.