Visualista Digest September 2025
- Alla Yaskovets
- Sep 10
- 10 min read
Updated: Sep 12
Whether you are a designer, PR professional, or brand strategist, this digest is crafted to help you stay one step ahead — spotting editorial trends, identifying media opportunities, and aligning your story with the right platform at the right time.
Elle Decoration
Editor’s Letter
Editor Ben Spring uses the last month of summer as a moment to pause and reflect — looking back at Milan Design Week 2025 and distilling its standout ideas into a comprehensive Trend Report. While the title remains rooted in aspirational modern living, the tone this month feels particularly analytical. It’s less about quick inspiration and more about mapping where the industry is headed — making this issue a valuable read for brands considering their positioning in 2026.
This Month’s Focus: Trend forecasting
How AI will shape the design world: The centrepiece of the issue is a deep dive into design trends, pairing Milan Design Week takeaways with broader cultural currents. One feature explores how AI is set to influence design workflows, framed around the line: “AI won’t steal your job, but someone who knows how to use it might.” It’s a subtle yet clear invitation for designers and studios to start integrating digital fluency into their creative process.
Washi paper: the centuries-old Japanese craft, celebrated for its tactility, durability, and versatility, is being reinterpreted by contemporary brands. It is now making its way into high-end furniture and lighting collections, adding a poetic, handcrafted layer to modern design.
Hospitality trend to watch: Listening Bars. Inspired by Japan’s hi-fi café culture, they’re gaining traction globally. Elle Decoration highlights three London openings — Goodbye Horses, Kioku by Pirajean Lees, and Space Talk — as part of a wider “analogue experience” revival. For hospitality brands, this signals a growing appetite for intimate, audio-focused spaces that blend cultural programming with F&B.
Design Trends from Milan Design Week 2025: Elle Decoration’s 2025 Trend Report captures a shift toward bold form and intricate detailing:
Grand furniture proportions — pieces that command a room.
Renaissance for glass — decorative, architectural, and coloured applications.
Maximalist textures — layering tactility as a design statement.
Japanese influence — clean lines, natural materials, quiet luxury.
Deconstructed furniture — visible joints as decorative features.
Glossy lacquered finishes — high-shine glamour returns.
Hyper-locality — brands reducing transport emissions through local sourcing.
All about the bedroom — with headboards, rather than beds themselves, stealing the spotlight.
Editorial Shoot: Heavy Metal
A high-impact visual story on “Heavy Metal” styling — chrome, stainless steel, and aluminium welded into the zeitgeist. Styled by Sandra Place and photographed by Vincent Leroux.
Editorial Insights for Brands
NOW, Update and Edit sections remain the most product-driven parts of the magazine, with recent features including Flexform seating by Patrick Forget and Dior’s sculptural egg plate.
Branded event: collaborations are thriving: the magazine recently hosted an in-person talk with King Living, where Ben Spring and designer Alex Dailey discussed creating the ideal lounge space. For brands, these hybrid content–event partnerships remain a proven way to secure editorial exposure and attract new clients.
Kitchen content also holds a strong presence this month, with coverage of the latest in both indoor and outdoor kitchen design — a space where material innovation and luxury finishes are driving editorial interest.
Editorial Insights for Interior Designers
Beyond showcasing projects, designers can also find opportunities in the magazine’s expert features — this month’s deep dive into shutters and entrance halls, featuring expert advice and standout examples.
Sustainability remains a high-value editorial hook. The profile of Formafantasma’s biodiversity-focused collaboration with Maison Perrier illustrates how Elle Decoration favours design stories that merge aesthetics with measurable environmental impact.
In the Industry Index, the spotlight on Australian designer Mardi Doherty reaffirms the title’s interest in studios with a clear design philosophy and recognisable visual language.
Finally, the Opinion section’s inclusion of 13 designers discussing AI signals that Elle Decoration welcomes thought-leadership content.
House & Garden
Editor’s Letter
This issue marks a milestone: the final editor’s letter from Hatta Byng, who has led House & Garden for more than a decade and been part of the team for over 20 years. She closes her tenure by returning to a theme that defined her first major editorial project — sustainability — and passes the baton to Talib Choudhry, former Head of Editorial at AD Middle East.
This Month’s Focus: Sustainability
Sustainability runs through every page of the issue.
Architecture: Featured projects highlight sustainable building practices and design approaches rooted in long-term responsibility.
Shopping & The List: Vintage and eco-conscious products dominate, from Rose Uniacke’s natural fabrics to Edward Bulmer’s environmentally friendly paints.
Consumer Advice: In “Last Word,” Nina Marenzi, founder of the Future Fabrics Expo, explains how to source textiles responsibly and avoid “fast interiors.”
Exhibitions & Design Highlights
The editorial team highlights London Design Social (24–25 September, Chelsea Old Town Hall) — a curated pop-up connecting interior design enthusiasts with independent makers in textiles, wallpaper, and home products. This is a key opportunity for emerging brands to gain visibility in the UK market.
Design Trend: Red & Gold
Style Editor Ruth Sleightholme picks up on the opening of an iconic French department store Printemps in New York, designed by Laura Gonzales. A standout moment is a richly decorated “Red Room” in mosaics of crimson and gold — a cue that jewel-like colour palettes and opulent finishes are staging a comeback in both hospitality and retail spaces.
Editorial Shoot
For the September sustainable issue, Decoration Editor Remy Mishon stepped in for the shoot, styling with vintage furniture and accessories, photographed by Franck Allais. The preference for vintage underscores the magazine’s drive toward reuse, provenance, and one-off character in interiors.
Editorial Insights for Brands
In every issue, Style Editor Ruth Sleightholme curates the Decorating Notebook — one of the magazine’s most product-driven sections and a key placement opportunity for brands. This month, her spotlight is on recycled fabrics, underscoring House & Garden’s strong editorial alignment with textile and fabric innovation.
Complementing this, the Last Word features Nina Marenzi, founder of the Future Fabrics Expo, who guides readers on how to make informed, responsible textile choices and avoid “fast interiors.”
The Stories section broadens the lens, showcasing sustainability across multiple disciplines:
Furniture makers: B Crop Design Studio
Workshops: upholsterer Deidre Fetherston
Architecture practices: CSK Architects
Artists: Anya Gallaccio
Together, these features highlight the magazine’s commitment to championing sustainable practices across the full spectrum of design — from craft workshops to large-scale architecture.
For brands and workshops, this mix signals editorial openness to a broad ecosystem of makers, not just household names.
Editorial Insights for Designers
The Homes section spotlights a cover project by Nicola Harding, whose vintage-led interiors reinforce House & Garden’s ongoing commitment to provenance, reuse, and layered storytelling.
In a notable shift, the issue also features several biomorphic, contemporary architecture projects — signalling that the magazine is widening its lens beyond its traditional aesthetic.
Finally, an expert roundup brings together eight leading designers to share insights on designing and building sustainably.
The World of Interiors
This Month’s Focus: The Literature
The September issue brings together a cast of writers and publishers, each offering personal reflections on what “home” means. From historic literary houses to vast private libraries, the stories create a dialogue between architecture, interiors, and cultural heritage.
Editor’s Letter
The World of Interiors never plays by the rules of interiors publishing — it sets them. The September issue, titled The Literature Issue, opens with a cover that doesn’t show a room at all, but a painting by Machel Smith. Editor Emily Tobin reflects on the magazine’s long-standing relationship with literature, featuring the homes of iconic writers including Emile Zola, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf and Victor Hugo. As Tobin notes, literature has always been at the heart of WOI — and this month it is writers writing about writers.
For designers and PRs, it’s important to remember: The World of Interiors is the Vogue or haute couture of the interiors press. It is notoriously selective, and securing project placement here is exceptionally difficult. Still, reading each issue is essential, as it reveals cultural conversations that shape the entire high-end interiors market.
Editorial Shoot: The Armchair Traveller
Style Director Gianluca Longo, together with photographer Ollie Tomlinson, creates a visual narrative around reading chairs placed in unexpected and surreal locations.
Editorial Insights for Brands
In this issue, Editor David Lipton highlights teapots — an editorial nod to the rituals of reading — and stages a new wallpaper selection presented like a deck of cards. Collaborations between illustrator Daniel McKay and photographer Edie Telle Nakata further underline The World of Interiors’ love of cross-disciplinary creativity.
For brands, the takeaway is crucial: product features in WOI are never straightforward. Objects are placed within rich cultural or narrative contexts rather than simple product spotlights. To capture editorial interest, brands must align their offerings with storytelling potential, heritage, and a broader creative dialogue.
Editorial Insights for Designers
The Houses section takes readers inside some of the world’s most book-filled interiors:
The Milan apartment of art publisher Massimo Vitta Zelman, filled with archives and catalogues.
The Sicilian home of Fiona Corsini di San Giuliano, housing a vast family collection of 40,000 books, designed by architect Themistocle Antoniadis.
These features confirm WOI’s editorial appetite for homes with intellectual depth, cultural collections, and layered narratives of history and taste. For designers, this means that projects with provenance, storytelling power, and ties to art, literature, or collecting have the best chance of editorial interest.
Livingetc
Editor’s Letter
This month, Livingetc announces the winners of its annual Style Awards, now in their fifth year. The awards celebrate the most innovative and beautiful products shaping contemporary interiors, from furniture and lighting to technology and outdoor living. Editor Pip Rich opens the issue with an insight into the judging process, where the panel applies a deceptively simple test to every entry: does this object make life better? Even the most practical items — a vacuum cleaner, for instance — are evaluated for the way they elevate daily living.
This Month’s Focus: Livingetc Style Awards 2025
The winners span the full breadth of interior design: Furniture, Accessories, Decorating, Lighting, Kitchens, Bathrooms, Sleep, Technology, Outdoor Living, Projects (bespoke joinery and custom design solutions). The full list of winners is available on Livingetc.
Design Trend: The Bow & Oversized Headboards
This month, Livingetc spotlights two trends influencing interiors. First, the bow steps off the catwalk and into design collections, re-emerging as a playful yet elegant motif. Second, the oversized headboard takes centre stage in the bedroom — a statement detail that not only adds drama but also creates the illusion of a larger space.
Editorial Insights for Brands
The August issue of Livingetc, dedicated to announcing the winners of the Style Awards, is one of the best opportunities of the year for brands to gain editorial visibility without additional spend. Winners receive coverage across print, digital, and social platforms. Every submission is reviewed by the senior editorial team — Executive Editor Pip Rich, Deputy Editor Ellen Finch, and Digital Editor Hugh Metcalf. To be part of this valuable spotlight, brands must apply by April, with each submission costing £250 per product.
Editorial Insights for Interior Designers
For interior designers, Livingetc offers multiple entry points to gain editorial exposure — both for showcasing projects in the Homes section and for contributing expertise.
Expert Commentary: Before nominees are announced, designers are often invited to share insights on specific topics. In this issue, for example, Olga Ashbi contributes her perspective on lighting, while Australian designer Simone Haag reflects on the idea behind the awards and what style means.
Interviews: The magazine regularly profiles established and emerging voices. This issue spotlights James Thurstan, whose reflections on practice and philosophy serve as a model for how designers can present a distinctive narrative about their approach.
Decorating: A section for clever detailing and material use. In the current issue, the focus is on stone-led projects. This is an opportunity to highlight specific aspects of a scheme.
Colour Expertise: Regular features by colour specialist Amy Moore highlight the best projects that showcase inventive use of colour schemes, giving designers a valuable opportunity to be featured. As we approach autumn, colour palettes grow richer and more layered.
Homes & Gardens
Editor’s Letter
As autumn approaches, the Editor Jo Bailey reflects on slowing down and embracing serene interiors. This issue celebrates natural palettes, richly textured surfaces, and materials that feel both timeless and sustainable.
This Month’s Focus: Sustainability
The September issue is dedicated to serene, sustainable design and asks: what’s new in eco-interiors? From innovative repurposing to low-impact materials, the features showcase how sustainability is moving from niche to mainstream.
Design Trends: Hands & Teal
Two motifs shape the issue’s trend pages. The first is the hand — a symbolic presence in recent collections that counters our digital age with a reminder of tactility and craft. The second is jewel-toned teal, chosen as the magazine’s colour of the month.
Editorial Insights for Brands
The September issue highlights best-in-class sustainable materials. The Design Ideas section explores creative ways to repurpose materials, while the Address Book turns its focus to designers and makers working locally — from sourcing to production — emphasising craft, provenance, and conscious choices.
Editorial Insights for Interior Designers
The Homes section — usually featuring five projects per issue — brings a global sweep of residences, united this month by natural palettes and richly textured materials. Importantly, Homes & Gardens also offers alternative routes to publication: projects don’t always have to appear as full home tours; they can be included in features on specific themes, or as expert commentary within decorating or ideas-driven pages.
The Design Ideas section, for example, is perfect for positioning projects that showcase innovative solutions or sustainable approaches. This month, projects highlighting repurposing take centre stage, alongside expert advice from Pea Pelkonen on weaving sustainability into the heart of a scheme. Designers who can demonstrate clever detailing or a strong material story have strong chances here.
The Lifestyle section is another strategic entry point: regular features like “Love Letter” or “My Life in 10” offer opportunities for designers to share personal vision, values, and cultural influences beyond project work — strengthening their brand as much as their portfolio.
This issue also demonstrates how specialist voices are invited into features: New York designer Jo Moyler contributes a 25-year perspective on sustainability, while Louisa Grey and Stephanie Barbara Mendoza offer insights through moodboards and colour-led schemes. For designers, this is a reminder to position themselves not only as project creators but also as thought leaders — whether on sustainability, heritage, colour, or material use.
Finally, unlike many titles that spotlight emerging talent only once a year, Homes & Gardens integrates its “Next in Design” winners in every issue, ensuring new names remain in the spotlight.
Looking to see your work featured in top interiors magazines?
Visualista Digest — our monthly review of the leading design publications — is created by the Visualista PR team of experts. Alongside it, we craft bespoke editorial strategies for design brands and studios ready to shine in the pages of The World of Interiors, House & Garden, ELLE Decoration, Homes & Gardens, Livingetc and more.
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