Decorex 2026 will bring the high-end interior design community together at Olympia London from 11–14 October, as the sector responds to changing patterns of living, renewed interest in craftsmanship and the accelerating influence of technology.
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| N7 Collection by Nth Degree Clerkenwell |
For an industry accustomed to continually redefining luxury, the themes emerging around this year's Decorex point towards a significant shift in what premium interiors are expected to deliver. Rather than simply focusing on visual sophistication, designers and brands are increasingly responding to demand for interiors that feel authentic, tactile, individual and connected to the way people actually live.
Decorex, which has been a fixture in the high-end interior design calendar for nearly five decades, will bring together more than 280 exhibiting international brands, alongside a programme of talks, workshops and demonstrations. The organisers say the event connects more than 12,500 design professionals, including designers, architects, retailers, buyers and hoteliers.
The 2026 edition also comes at an important moment for its venue. Olympia London has undergone a £1.3 billion redevelopment, while Decorex has secured a new two-year commitment to remain at the West London destination. Olympia says the expanded hospitality, restaurants and social spaces are expected to encourage visitors to spend more time at the venue and continue business conversations beyond the exhibition floor.
From decoration to experience
One of the clearest developments within contemporary interiors is the move away from the idea that luxury is necessarily synonymous with sleekness, restraint and pristine minimalism.
Instead, designers are increasingly exploring materiality, tactility and individuality. Wood, stone, cork, natural fibres, woven fabrics, plaster and limewash finishes are being used to create environments with greater depth and sensory appeal.
This reflects a wider consumer interest in interiors that feel lived-in rather than showroom-perfect. For the premium design market, it also creates opportunities for specialist manufacturers, artisans and makers whose products can offer something distinctive that is difficult to replicate through mass production.
Decorex's Making Spaces programme, where master artisans demonstrate their skills, is particularly relevant to this movement. Alongside the commercial business of sourcing products, craftsmanship itself has become part of the design experience.
The result is a more nuanced definition of luxury: not simply the cost or exclusivity of an object, but the quality of its materials, the skill involved in producing it and the story behind its creation.
Outdoor living becomes an extension of the home
The growing sophistication of outdoor living is another important indicator of how the interiors market is evolving.
Decorex is highlighting 10 luxury outdoor furniture brands, including Nth Degree Clerkenwell, Barbacoa, Ligne Roset, Capital Garden Products, Maison Gatti, Modus Fireplaces, Heritage Handmade Garden Collections, OKA, Vincent Sheppard and Indian Ocean.
The development reflects a broader blurring of the boundary between indoor and outdoor environments. Gardens, terraces, balconies and rooftops are increasingly being conceived as extensions of the home — spaces for dining, entertaining, working and relaxing rather than simply areas used during good weather.
This is creating a new design challenge. Outdoor furniture increasingly needs to provide the comfort, sophistication and visual coherence traditionally associated with interiors, while also meeting the practical demands of changing weather conditions and outdoor use.
Nth Degree, for example, describes the current direction as creating outdoor spaces that feel as considered and characterful as the interiors they adjoin, with attention to tactile fabrics, natural materials and relaxed silhouettes.
The implications extend beyond residential design. Hotels, restaurants and other hospitality businesses are also investing in outdoor environments as part of the overall customer experience.
In this respect, outdoor furniture is moving from being a peripheral category towards becoming an increasingly integrated part of the luxury interiors market.
British lighting highlights the value of making
Lighting provides another example of the continuing importance of specialist craftsmanship.
Nine British lighting brands highlighted by Decorex — Original BTC, Soho Lighting & Co., Corston Architectural Detail, Rothschild & Bickers, Haslam West, Porta Romana, Heathfield, Kansa Lighting and Tigermoth Lighting — demonstrate the breadth of approaches being taken within the sector.
The emphasis is not simply on illumination, but on lighting as an architectural and decorative component capable of influencing atmosphere, colour, texture and spatial perception.
Rothschild & Bickers, for example, is using Decorex to present new handcrafted lighting collections combining British craftsmanship, glassmaking and new finishes. Its exhibition stand itself explores how colour, wallpaper, pattern and lighting can work together within layered interiors.
This illustrates an important commercial distinction in the premium market: lighting is increasingly being treated as a design statement rather than a purely functional specification.
The return of maximalism
After years in which minimalist interiors dominated much of the design conversation, maximalism is returning — but in a more controlled and sophisticated form.
Rather than simply filling rooms with objects and pattern, the emerging approach is based on layering. Jewel colours, contrasting textures, pattern, decorative surfaces and statement furniture are being combined to create interiors with a stronger sense of personality.
This trend also supports the premium design sector because it encourages consumers and specifiers to seek out individual pieces rather than relying on uniform schemes.
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| Claudia Dorsch's "Chalet Reimagined" design for the Decorex VIP Lounge |
The chalet gets a contemporary makeover
The Decorex VIP Lounge provides an illustration of how heritage references are being reinterpreted for contemporary lifestyles.
Designed by London-based international interior designer Claudia Dorsch, the lounge, titled “Back to the Future — The Chalet Reimagined”, explores Alpine heritage through a contemporary lens, incorporating references to the glamour and decadence of the 1970s Italian ski scene.
The concept moves away from the traditional perception of the chalet as an exclusively winter environment. Instead, it considers the chalet as a year-round space, combining timber, fire, craftsmanship and communal rituals with contemporary materials and aesthetics.
This is significant beyond the installation itself. The luxury chalet market has become an influential area of residential design, particularly as high-end clients increasingly expect second homes and hospitality environments to offer the same level of individuality and design sophistication as their principal residences.
Dorsch's concept also reinforces the growing importance of experience-led design — creating environments that encourage people to stay, socialise and interact rather than simply admire individual products.
Botanical art adds another layer of craftsmanship
Deorex 2026 is also collaborating with Norfolk-based botanical artist Claire Coles who creates luxury wallpaper murals using a combination of vintage papers, gold leaf, faux leather, hand painting and freehand embroidery. Her Decorex design brings together deep greens, blues and warm rust shades, with hand-painted elements, vintage papers and suede appliqué.
Her work is particularly relevant to the current design direction because it combines traditional decorative techniques with contemporary scale and application.
The result is a form of craft-led surface design in which wallpaper becomes an immersive artwork rather than simply a background finish.
This points towards another important development within the premium interiors market: the increasing demand for bespoke and highly individual surfaces capable of giving a project a distinctive identity.
AI versus the handmade — or AI alongside it?
Perhaps the most consequential change facing the industry is the growing influence of artificial intelligence.
AI is now being incorporated into areas such as mood-board development, space planning, material selection, visualisation and trend analysis. For designers, these technologies can potentially accelerate early-stage development and enable multiple concepts to be explored rapidly.
But the increasing use of AI also throws the value of human craftsmanship into sharper relief.
The same design landscape that is embracing algorithmic tools is simultaneously placing greater emphasis on handmade ceramics, woven textiles, artisan finishes, hand-painted murals and individually crafted lighting.
Rather than necessarily representing opposing forces, technology and craftsmanship could become complementary parts of the design process. AI can assist with ideation, visualisation and efficiency, while skilled makers provide the physical, tactile and cultural qualities that technology cannot reproduce in the same way.
Decorex's combination of technology-focused conversations with live demonstrations by master artisans reflects this broader industry dialogue.
A softer, warmer colour direction
Colour trends for 2026 also reflect the broader desire for warmth and calm.
Sand, vanilla, clay and earthy tones are emerging alongside richer greens, blues and rust shades. Pantone's Cloud Dancer, a soft off-white with a subtle vanilla quality, also fits into the wider movement towards quieter, more natural palettes.
However, the return of warmer neutrals does not necessarily signal another period of minimalism. Instead, neutral backgrounds can provide a foundation for stronger patterns, decorative surfaces, statement lighting and richly textured furnishings.
The emerging approach is therefore less about eliminating visual stimulation and more about controlling the relationship between colour, texture and pattern.
Decorex as a barometer of the luxury interiors market
Taken together, the themes emerging from Decorex 2026 reveal an industry negotiating several seemingly contradictory forces.
Technology is advancing rapidly, yet craftsmanship is becoming more commercially and culturally significant. Minimalism is giving way to greater decoration, while natural materials are replacing some of the slickness associated with contemporary interiors. Outdoor spaces are becoming more sophisticated, while the distinction between residential and hospitality design continues to blur.
These developments suggest that the next phase of luxury interiors will be defined less by a single dominant aesthetic and more by layering — of materials, technologies, craftsmanship, heritage and personal expression.
As Sam Fisher puts it: “2026 is about pushing boundaries, and Decorex will continue to lead the conversation.”
With its combination of international brands, specialist makers, design talks, workshops and immersive installations, Decorex 2026 will offer an opportunity to assess not simply what is new in interiors, but where the business of high-end design is heading next.
Images: Decorex 2026
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