INTERIOR CONCRETE ELEMENTS BECOMING A MODERN, CONTEMPORARY STAPLE

Traditionally used primarily as an exterior building material, concrete is having a bit of a moment in the home design world, the Los Angeles Times reports. Concrete can help designers and homeowners achieve modern, contemporary, and rustic stylistic looks and is being used in everything from home furnishings to sink faucets.

Today, contemporary concrete design has shifted from its formerly formidable and imposing aesthetic to embrace the material’s organic roots in a modern collaboration of earthy elements. Using concrete in combination with wood, warm-toned metals and tactile materials creates a sense of nature and balance in both product and building design.

“There’s something really peaceful about [concrete],” Abeer Sweis, design partner at the Los Angeles-based firm Sweiskloss, said, “and yet it’s very powerful, strong and permanent. If you buy something made out of concrete, it feels like it’s been around awhile … it feels like it has just existed.”

“The touch of it is amazing,” JosephyDi Benedetto, executive director and product designer at Designer Doorware, said. “You may think of it as cold and rough, but it’s not; it’s very smooth and pleasant to use.”

T.J. Eads, lead industrial designer for Indianapolis-based luxury faucet and fittings manufacturer Brizo, believes the longing for substance and style is a reaction to our increasingly virtual landscape. “Millennials, and [people] younger than that, have been raised in a tech world,” Eads said, “where there are a lot of flat screens and glass surfaces, and they want that tactile feel. … They want those elements, like concrete, within their house—whether it’s a drawer pull or a faucet … they want texture.”