Mix and Match

How to combine decors and textures for a unique effect

Furnishing an interior with imagination and creativity leads to a fusion of styles, also known as Mix and Match!
Here’s some guidance on how to make this most creative of styles more tasteful and aesthetically brilliant.

It’s not I who seek it but it that, breaking away from the scene, pierces me like an arrow. I am drawn to a “detail”.
I feel that its mere presence changes the way a read, that what I am looking at is a new photograph, which now has greater value in my eyes.
Roland Barthes, “Camera Lucida”

The Mix and Match trend

The Mix and Match trend continues to be ever-present in interior design, breathing originality into homes all over the world.

This trend harmonises different styles, decors and textures, creating unique, highly individual layouts.

Whether you have a classical or modern apartment or an industrial loft, or prefer the rustic and ethnic style, with Mix and Match you can express your personality to the full and express your universe through interior design.

Decors and Textures: the keys to defining interior design

One of the fundamental aspects of Mix and Match is the skilful use of decors and textures. The combination of different surfaces, decorative tiles, choice fabrics and natural materials helps to define a room’s style and mood. Decorative tiles, in particular, are perfect for adding a distinctive, creative touch to design schemes.

FAP Ceramiche offers a wide array of options with Decor Box, ideal for embellishing any interior with original textures and patterns from the geometrical to the botanical, and tactile and 3D surfaces, all in the very latest fashionable colours.

How to combine different styles, from classical to modern

The secret of successful Mix and Match design lies in balance: the ability to combine classical and modern features to generate attractive contrasts, a visual focus or a detail that emerges from the creative maelstrom to find a new balance, and above all a fresh form of self-expression. What Roland Barthes defines in his study “Camera Lucida” as the “punctum”. Something that suddenly attracts our gaze and polarises our attention, inspiring an emotional response, a private truth revealed through an interior design detail, an unusual object, perhaps a memory.

Some possible solutions for perfect mix and match:

A mix of the classical and the contemporary, as in this living-room, where the ceiling, decorated with a frieze of medallions, is given a new character with a deep colour as required by the latest trends and is perfectly attuned to the large, soft, fluid COLOR>MOOD Tropical Blue wall decoration, which gives a greater sense of space to the room, completed by a lovely wood-effect stoneware flooring that contributes a touch of nature-inspired tactile beauty to the design scheme.

Combining apparently unrelated surfaces is an excellent strategy, as in this lounge, where elegant, gleaming marble, a material with connotations of luxury, is used together with glass and metal, in the floor-to ceiling glazing, and oxidised metal-effect corten slabs, with a very raw, contemporary impact. An excellent mix and a successful match using just one collection: FAP ROMA GOLD!

There’s no end to the combinations of materials, looks and colours that can be created using both decorative features like mosaics and boiserie panels and colour and light, to generate fascinating, intriguing forms that mirror the beauty we want to reflect.

Severe, modern furniture can be combined with classical and romantic decors, or rustic accessories can be used in a minimalist context.

The secret is to maintain a coherence of colour or style that will guarantee an attractive, balanced overall design scheme.

80x160 slabs and FAP Maxxi for Mix and Match

The Mix and Match approach can also be underlined by the scale of large-size ceramic slabs and their textures. For example, the FAP EXXTRA 80x160 slabs are ideal for creating large blocks of solid colour, continuous walls with sophisticated or tactile patterning, decorated with glossy or strongly 3D details.

The even larger FAP MAXXI 120x278 size enables the Mixing and Matching of effects and finishes with beautiful marble-, resin- and onyx-look surfaces, a rich and striking decorative repertoire of patterns and colours.

They’re excellent examples of how different materials and textures can be combined to achieve a surprising yet attractive visual effect.

Creating a space that’s a pleasure to use: tips and best practices.

To achieve the best from Mix and Match, it’s essential for the room to be not only aesthetically pleasing but also convenient for its intended purpose.

Here are some tips:

Decide the colour scheme: when planning the room, choose a set of colours to create unity across the various features.
Focus: choose a focal point for every room, such as a sofa, a picture or a fireplace, and build the rest of the design around it.
Be consistent: maintain an underlying coherence that will help you to link the different styles together: it may be an idea, a poem or a theme you’re fond of.
Choose for functionality: make sure that every piece doesn’t only fit into the room’s style but also helps to make it more convenient and comfortable.

Adopting the Mix and Match approach means being brave and daring to experiment, to create interiors that really reflect who you are.

Whether you’re furnishing an industrial loft or a classical or modern apartment, the Mix and Match style offers you infinite possibilities for expressing your creativity and personality.

Do it with FAP!