{"id":365307,"date":"2025-08-22T18:39:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T18:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/365307\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T18:39:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T18:39:21","slug":"matt-metallics-the-new-neutrals-taking-over-contemporary-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/365307\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt metallics: the new neutrals taking over contemporary spaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I began writing about interiors 25 years ago, trends like \u2018shabby chic\u2019, sponge-painted walls and stainless steel<\/a> were impossible to ignore. The latter was all kitchen<\/a> designers talked about; they wanted every home to resemble those thrumming industrial spaces where we ate and drank. But few mentioned how blemished they\u2019d get with fingerprints, how scarred with scratches. In time stainless steel was quietly edged out by engineered stone, Carrera marble and, eventually, hardy grey concrete<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the past five years, inundated by images of creamy walls and woody surfaces, Plain English kitchens and palettes of setting plaster, some of us have returned to minimalist<\/a> metallics while addressing their major flaw. The metallics used in contemporary settings today are paler, flatter and cleaner \u2014 not to mention easier to clean. They bring back those same industrial, concrete tones while elevating the industrial aesthetic. The high-traffic bar Crispin, in London\u2019s Soho<\/a>, gets it, with a wispy zinc bar designed by Jermaine Gallacher. An armchair by Portuguese studio Haos has the girth and pitch of a ready-made, and yet the zinc skin makes it look a million pounds. The Danish kitchen manufacturer Reform recently installed a brushed-aluminium kitchen in a Notting Hill short-term rental<\/a> operated by Domus Stay. Designed by David Thulstrup, the raw, tactile surfaces have the potential to oxidise and patina over time.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Covent Garden kitchen designed by Carmody Groarke and manufactured by Young & Norgate. Photography: The Property Photographer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Covent Garden kitchen designed by Carmody Groarke and manufactured by Young & Norgate. Photography: The Property Photographer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Daytrip Studio\u2019s bar at the Lavery in London. Photography: Oskar Proctor.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A rooftop pavilion by architects Carmody Groarke. Photography: The Property Photographer.<\/p>\n

\u2018A lot of interiors in the past five years have gone down the rural, Plain English, Shaker choice,\u2019 says Iwan Halstead, a director at Daytrip Studio<\/a> in London. \u2018But if you\u2019re an urban dweller, which most of us are, materials that feel young, fresh and remind us of a certain minimalism feel relevant to our aesthetic \u2014 more St John<\/a> than the Cotswolds. Your kitchen choice is an extension of your situation.\u2019 In their recent outfit of the Lavery restaurant in Kensington<\/a>, London, Halstead and his partner Emily Potter planted a thick zinc bar as a feature, offset by red stools and wood tables.<\/p>\n

The direction, he says, came from the client, who wanted an update on traditional French zinc bars. The application of thin zinc sheets around a form, hammered by skilled metal-pressers, has the refreshing cleanliness of a new neutral \u2014 \u2018like 1920s jewellery that\u2019s been carefully made,\u2019 says Halstead. \u2018It has a lovely patina that looks painterly in a way.\u2019 He concedes that, like marble, zinc does take water marks. But it presents more classically than regular stainless steel and avoids looking manufactured.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Daytrip Studio\u2019s bar at the Lavery in London. Photography: Oskar Proctor.<\/p>\n

\u2018A matt sanded finish on metallics is definitely a more modern steer,\u2019 says the master-joiner Ross Norgate of Young & Norgate<\/a>. He was recently commissioned to produce a sanded-steel kitchen for a private Covent Garden home designed by architects Carmody Groarke, who used a similar material for the rooftop pavilion. Norgate says he found it a more practical, liveable alternative to the super-sheen of regular steel. \u2018It\u2019s difficult to install a machine-finished stainless-steel kitchen without scratching it. Brushing it out by hand also comes with challenges. But the circular sanding gives it a uniform matt finish that\u2019s easy to maintain.\u2019 That quality can also make it cheaper than regular steel in the long term.<\/p>\n

Even with an artful finish, a matt metallic can represent a minimalist moment \u2014\u00a0\u2018a fresh palate cleanser\u2019, according to Halstead. He namechecks Felizia Berchtold and Oskar Kohnen of Tutto Bene<\/a>, who designed custom fronts in aluminium silver leaf for an IKEA kitchen in a Milan apartment. \u2018It\u2019s such a clever technique,\u2019 he says. \u2018And it looks incredibly expensive.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brushed-aluminium kitchen cabinetry by David Thulstrup for Reform. Photography courtesy Reform.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A steel kitchen by Buchanan Studio. Photography courtesy Buchanan Studio.<\/p>\n

Read next: A steely oyster bar launches with a bang in London\u2019s Shoreditch<\/a>
\nThis industrial duplex in Paris captures the art of loft-living<\/a>
\nFive architectural retreats where forest bathing is the main attraction<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I began writing about interiors 25 years ago, trends like \u2018shabby chic\u2019, sponge-painted walls and stainless steel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-365307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115073880458362736","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}