Color Trends for 2015 by Erika Winters

With big firms leading the way, we can see influences continuing to give the magic of color to everyday life.

Color palettes, chromatic scales, shades, are often the subject of conversation and this helps us understand each trend.

We must not forget that “color trends” result from a series of prior trends. It also follows on from how color has been used in the creative arts for a number of years at the forefront of design and architecture projects. Nor should we overlook how each market sector interprets them. In other words, when color trends become personal, users apply the range of colors according to their taste or criteria. Multinational companies obviously make their forecasts for a line of trends based on social, economic, design and, of course, decorative considerations.

Color trends for 2015 include warmer, solid and opaque colors; metallic shades have also been gaining support in the world of interior decorating.

Skin-colored tints, pinks, reds and oranges are amplified and contrasted with blue and green to create geometrical and linear shapes.

Base colors are earthy and natural, with sandy and sepia hues, and for detailing we see brighter shades of yellow and orange. Opaque green and brown provide the canvas of inspiration and the magic of color. Each one of these colors is full of life and inspires experimentation.

So here is what we can expect for 2015:

- A subtle use of color combinations or groups, rather than a single shade used in isolation; mainly soft and pastel colors will be combined.

- For those who like a classical, discrete and more conservative decorative style, we can find a more traditional palette of plum, light pink and cream, combined with light gray, greenish blue and khaki.

In my view, the color trend has changed from being a trend to becoming a way of life since Asia has become a strong influence due to its people’s way of life and its nature.

For Spring, shades of green and sepia; crystalline colors like turquoise, since water is a source of inspiration to leave behind the harsh winter and snowfalls, and makes way for sources of natural stone and swimming pools which are also fashionable.

Earthy elements like glazed ceramics in turquoise, green, red-orange and mustard yellow, along with willow baskets, chairs made of wicker and wood, and dyed or undyed  carpets made of natural fibers. Seeds and organically shaped branches for decoration.

This way of life includes tea, as well as jars and glasses with simple yet bold and repetitive designs in strong, solid colors, are also important for this season.

Organic and molecular shapes continue to be powerful, both in industrial design and architecture, since they are defined by nature and simplicity.

The natural colors of materials such as stone, concrete and wood form the base of vibrant, light and explosive colors that make up the color palette. Everything that produces shadows will be welcome, even to move from white to black. Colors to follow: aqua, pink, violet, yellow and orange.

This color palette, combined with geometric and industrial shapes, is always about comfort and elegance of a chic and urban decorative style.
                                                                                                        By Erika Winters

Setting Up a Studio in Los Angeles: Let the Adventure Begin . . .

For many years, I had the good fortune to have my showroom in a house on Atlixco 45 in the Colonia Condesa in Mexico City, in the same building where I had grown up with my sisters, my mother and great aunts, and where my mother and her brothers had been raised before me.

The Condesa district was also where my parents met each other, fell in love, and were reputedly the best-looking couple in the neighborhood. That’s right, my mum and dad.

As a young girl, my mother would tell me about the importance of “beauty”, “style” and “art”. This meant that I grew up surrounded by music and art books, and we would go on visits to museums, galleries, antique stores, and as we grew older she would take us to open-air concerts in Chapultepec Park and at Mexico’s largest public university, the UNAM. My mother also enrolled me on summer courses at museums such as the Carrillo Gil. And of course, how could I forget our ritual visits to La Lagunilla market in downtown Mexico City, where we would always come down with something afterwards!

These experiences definitely lie at the roots of the person I am today and provide a source of inspiration to me. The years went by and after spending my childhood playing in that house, I had become a woman. 

I named my showroom Erika Winters Design just over 10 years ago. 
Who would have guessed that after 40 years the house would become the home for my professional career as an interior designer. I converted a part of the house into my workshop, where I produced several pieces of restored furniture in a myriad of colors and exotic materials. A house that created decorative designs, dreams and realities. 

Thanks to my “good taste” and “characteristic style” I attracted clients who helped me continue to hone my skills and grow in my chosen career. I was always very attentive to my clients’ tastes and needs, translating them for their spaces to give a chic and urban touch, but always respecting their personalities.

At the same time, my curiosity led me to seek out and experiment in new fields to continue developing my imagination. Soon after setting up my showroom, I began to travel abroad, always seeking to broaden my horizons. 

Soon an opportunity arose in Los Angeles, California. “The Living Room” on Sunset Boulevard launched the Erika Winters Design brand, using one of my collections of restored furniture at my workshop in Mexico City. This gave me the wings to take off and cross new frontiers in the world of interior design. 

Almost without me realizing it, everything had fallen into place for me to take the next step. The change was not easy and required a lot of work along the way. 

Once established, I found I was in contact with new people and potential clients. I realized that my tastes in design, color and the cutting-edge were not far removed from my new situation.

 

After three years in my new space, I have been immersed in new styles, colors, materials, tastes and needs: the same raw materials but from a new perspective. 

I realize that I am still restless, opening up the panorama before me to offer new possibilities and radical changes. 

I now understand that I am the business. Wherever I am, or wherever I’m flying to, my home and my profession will always be right here, where I am. 

Enjoy
Erika Winters

New York: when love comes through the eyes.

Writing is not that easy, but in the past few years I have being training myself because the need to express my experiences, feelings, ideas and concepts.

Today I like to share with you some of my writing...

 I always remember my dad used to tell me that travel was everything: "¡Hija! si no has viajado no has vivido." He was the one who took me on my first trip to New York City. We arrived at the airport and took the bus straight to Central Station at Port Authority, on 42^nd Street (which was very extravagant at the time). And I remember my first reaction, emerging onto the street and seeing the New York Times building, was to look up in amazement at the architecture from different periods contrasting with the blue sky. We were visiting in early March, at the start of spring, just as the city was beginning to thaw. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

I confess: I fell for Manhattan right there and then. And ever since that first trip to the city that never sleeps, I have not lost my sense of wonder. My last visit was no exception, because this time it was my turn to show my children the magic of the “Big Apple.”

The days went by a whirl, at the cutting-edge of architecture, art, history and fashion, days that I’m sure my children will remember forever.

Apart from visiting contemporary art museums such as the Guggenheim and the MomA, the Frick Collection and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we also toured the Chelsea art galleries to take in some contemporary conceptual art. 

  We walked the High Line, the mile-long linear park built on a disused railway line, enjoying great architecture and design from every angle. We admired the impressive combinations of concrete, wood, innovative materials and vegetation that have been turning Manhattan into an awe-inspiring and sublime city, not just in its exterior spaces but also in its sober, elegant and modern interiors; my fellow interior designers here are using bold colors and fantastic textures. The furniture and decorative objects have been perfectly chosen to convey a sense of “ordered chaos” in which everything always looks like it belongs, due to that fact that is openly visible and available to all the senses. And so to take advantage of all the Big City has to offer, we entered all the hotels, restaurants and bars that our legs could carry us to; we wondered at the interiors full of majestic marble, luxurious carpets, magnificent candelabras and beautiful bronze filigree work found on many of the handrails and doors.

 

 We visited a range of hotels, from those with the longest histories and traditions such as the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, the Pierre Hotel and the Plaza Hotel, to the more contemporary and modern Standard, High Line, ACE Hotel, NoMad Hotel, and the Bryant Park Hotel in the American Radiator building. We also explored every corner of Noho, Soho, Greenwich Village and Tribeca.

And since every trip must have an element of surprise, the three of us headed to the Upper West Side where my children and I ended up dining on hamburgers and milkshakes at Tom's Restaurant, just like Jerry Seinfeld, Elaine Benes, Cosmo Kramer and George Costanza use to do. 

 Our trip coincided with various important events, including the Spring-Summer 2015 "Design Fashion Week" in Manhattan. The catwalks were overflowing with incredible designs, prints and colors: this season’s three most important aspects, which are being combined in free-spirited and geometric forms, with great contrasts. Primary colors again! Yellow, Blue and Red are the dominant colors.  Black and White are the canvas for the rest of the palette.

I think the Venezuelan designer Carolina Herrera deserves all the praise this season. However, ultimately everything is relevant, especially here in the capital of art, fashion, design and the avant-garde, since trends and fashion are made by the people who wear what is created by the catwalk and underground designers.  

And it is even truer to say, fashion changes every day.

                          







                             



                             Enjoy
                          -Erika Winters-

Best Of Houzz 2014 Award

Erika Winters® Design of Los Angeles, CA Receives

Best Of Houzz 2014 Award

Annual Survey and Analysis of 16 Million Monthly Users

Reveals Top-Rated Building, Remodeling and Design Professionals

LOS ANGELES, CA, February 4, 2014 – Erika Winters® Design of Los Angeles, CA has been awarded “Best Of Houzz” by Houzz, the leading platform for home remodeling and design. The L.A. based design firm with over two decades of projects was chosen by the more than 16 million monthly users that comprise the Houzz community. 

The Best Of Houzz award is given in two categories: Customer Satisfaction and Design. Customer Satisfaction honors are determined by a variety of factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2013. Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the more than 16 million monthly users on Houzz, known as “Houzzers,” who saved more than 230 million professional images of home interiors and exteriors to their personal ideabooks via the Houzz site, iPad/iPhone app and Android app. Winners will receive a “Best Of Houzz 2014” badge on their profiles, showing the Houzz community their commitment to excellence. These badges help homeowners identify popular and top-rated home professionals in every metro area on Houzz.  

“Our home is the fingerprint of our heritage and consciousness”, Erika Winters®

“Houzz provides homeowners with the most comprehensive view of a home improvement professional on the Web, empowering them to find and hire the right professional to execute their vision,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of community for Houzz. “We’re delighted to recognize Erika Winters® Design among our “Best Of” professionals for design as judged by our community of homeowners and design enthusiasts who are actively remodeling and decorating their homes.”

With Houzz, homeowners can identify not only the top-rated professionals like Erika Winters® Design, but also those whose work matches their own aspirations for their home. Homeowners can also evaluate professionals by contacting them directly on the Houzz platform, asking questions about their work and reviewing their responses to questions from others in the Houzz community.

Follow Erika Winters® Design on Houzz http://www.houzz.com/pro/erika-winters/__public

About Erika Winters® Design

Design runs through Erika Winters´ veins. Her passion is to enrich everyday life with sophisticated, chic and timeless design. Her goal in interior and furnishings design is to create a calm and comfortable urbane feeling and environment. 

Erika's focus is on end-user comfort in her integral interior design. Attention to detail is crucial for Erika throughout the design and manufacturing process. 

Erika Winters´ path and work of two decades has drawn great media attention. She has been published in Architectural Digest Mexico, Habitat, Casa Viva, Mexico Design, Real Estate, Entre Muros of Reforma newspaper and Vogue Mexico. 

Erika Winters is extending her influence beyond Mexico City and is already beginning to make her mark in Los Angeles, California.

About House

Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish - online or from a mobile device. From decorating a room to building a custom home, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community powered by social tools, Houzz is the easiest way for people to get the design inspiration, project advice, product information and professional reviews they need to help turn ideas into reality. For more information, visit www.houzz.com

                               This are some of images of our projects, more can be found in Houzz

Contadero Decor by Erika Winters® Design

 Rosaleda Decor by Erika Winters® Design

 Christmas Decor by Erika Winters® Design

Rejuvenation Project by Erika Winters® Design

Sunnynook Project by Erika Winters® Design

Rosaleda Decor by Erika Winters® Design

Tine Decor by Erika Winters® Design

Del Sol Decor by Erika Winters® Design

M-8442 Project by Erika Winters® Design

Enjoy,

Erika Winters