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“More is more, but with restraint”

This quote by Miles Redd, a well-known American interior designer, perfectly captures the essence of minimal maximalism in interior design. This style combines many details with a careful, balanced selection, avoiding clutter and creating spaces that are refined yet full of character.

Minimal maximalism offers a fresh approach to how we live and design spaces. It blends personality with a strong focus on order and functionality, creating environments that are not only visually pleasing but also comfortable and welcoming. It’s a refined style that meets the needs of modern living, balancing aesthetics with practicality.

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This style is an authentic mix of two seemingly opposite worlds: maximalism and minimalism. On one hand, it embraces color, texture, and decorative details; on the other, it focuses on order, functionality, and the careful selection of items. The result is a style that values quality over quantity: each element is carefully chosen to create a visual and emotional impact, without overwhelming the space.

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Let’s take a step back and look at the key features of the two styles that come together in minimal maximalism.

Born between the 60s and 70s in the United States, minimalism found its greatest exponents in very important figures, such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Tadao Ando. Their works had a major influence on the development and growth of this style, helping define its core principles and guiding its evolution over time. Minimalism in furniture is part of a larger movement that includes art, architecture, and design. It was born as a response to the heavy decoration of earlier periods like the Baroque and Rococo, and also as a reaction to modernism, which, although focused on function, often felt cold and impersonal.

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The minimalist style is known for clean lines, simple geometric shapes, natural materials, and a neutral color palette. It focuses on reducing items to the essentials, keeping only what is necessary. There’s a strong emphasis on materials and empty spaces, which become an important part of the design.

Despite its popularity, I believe that minimalist spaces often feel cold and lacking in warmth, with limited expressiveness. Imagine a minimalist home: aesthetically perfect, with clean lines and a carefully placed painting to serve as a focal point without overwhelming the space. Yet, it often lacks that sense of welcome that turns a room into a true home.

How often have you entered a “total minimal” environment and perceived a cold atmosphere? This is because a house, to be truly livable, must convey warmth, and welcome, and reflect the personality of those who live there. It must be a refuge, aesthetically pleasing, comfortable, and full of life.

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Opposite, maximalism in furniture - which emerged in the 2010s as a response to minimalism - establishes itself as a trend that celebrates abundance, variety, and visual richness. Characterized by bright colors, rich fabrics, and a combination of styles and periods, maximalism aims to “fill” and enhance space, creating eccentric, lively, and deeply personalized environments. Maximalist-style homes are flashy and bold, but at the same time warm and welcoming. Each element expresses the owner's personality, creating a cheerful and visually fascinating atmosphere.

The roots of maximalism can be traced back to the “Victorian style,” known for its abundance of ornaments and decorations. The Victorian style showed off everything one owned, standing apart from the more modest, conservative style of the time, and shared the idea of an aesthetic that celebrated opulence and personal expression.

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Recently, maximalism has become more popular, partly due to a growing appreciation for personalized spaces and the influence of social media, which encourages bolder, more individual design choices. This movement has been pushed forward by designers like Jonathan Adler and Kelly Wearstler, who promoted rich, eccentric, and vibrant spaces that broke traditional design norms.

Maximalist homes are undoubtedly warmer, livelier, and closer to the idea of a welcoming home. However, there is a risk of excess turning into disorder. Without careful planning, a maximalist home can look chaotic, with furniture placed randomly, creating visual confusion and sometimes even a sense of mental overload. Balance, even in maximalism, remains essential to avoid turning a personalized space into a cluttered and impractical one.

So, what would a minimal maximalism home look like? What aspects of these two styles, when combined, can create a harmonious, cheerful, yet clean and functional environment?

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DECORATIVE OBJECTS: it is important to avoid saturating the space. Each element should be carefully chosen, not only for its beauty but to tell a story, giving the room a unique and personal character. Choosing objects becomes an intimate process, where each piece has a function and contributes to making the space special.

COLOR PALETTE: the colors must be harmonious and well-balanced, without ever exaggerating. Usually, we opt for a neutral background - white, beige, or gray - which allows the bright accents - for example, petrol blue, emerald green, or yellow ocher - to emerge with elegance. This combination creates a relaxing yet lively atmosphere.

MATERIALS: Combining different textures - like raw wood, marble, velvet, metals, and ceramics - not only enriches the visual experience but also creates a tactile contrast that invites exploration. The key is to maintain balance, so the variety of materials adds to the space without overwhelming it.

FURNISHINGS: The furniture lines are simple and clean, but the decorative details - like a sculptural lamp or a carpet with complex patterns - introduce an element of surprise, giving the space a more opulent and unexpected feel. It’s a fusion that keeps the environment elegant but never dull.

LIGHTING: Designer lamps or innovative lighting systems add a unique character to the space, often becoming the focal point that brings the room to life. This lighting highlights the beauty of the surroundings.

@Aaron Snyder

@Aaron Snyder

@Dusti Cunningham

The minimalist maximalist style answers the desire for a welcoming, personalized, and functional home. By combining “Less is more” and “More is more” - one from minimalism, the other from maximalism - it creates a balance that reflects a desire for change toward smaller, aesthetically pleasing spaces. This fusion of styles embodies the Latin principle “In medio stat virtus”, where virtue, and thus harmony, lies in the middle, naturally balancing minimalism and decoration.