Trend Watch: Vintage Industrial

A 3-hole punch from the 60s, in my Etsy shop

Vintage Industrial is a rising trend in interior decorating.  I would describe it as bringing in factory and industrial machinery elements into home decorating.

I am seeing a lot of old factory or office machinery in the trendy home decorating magazines and blogs.  Frequently it is displayed as art, like old rusty metal signs with peeling paint but a whole lot of character.  I've seen collections of old gears and bolts arranged as assembled art pieces, weathered wood elements and old printing letters, and black and white or sepia images of machine parts.

I don't tend to go with a lot of the latest trends, but sometimes I like this one.  A lot of the old machines had decorative embellishments that make good photographic subject matter, for instance.  I also really like the printer block idea because printmaking was the main focus of my art minor.

I spent a few minutes looking up some interesting articles online to exemplify the trend:

• Vintage Industrial Decorating Tips: HKLiving--How to include vintage industrial in your decor, and how to blend it with other trends like nautical and rustic.
  A Vintage Industrial-Modern Country House Tour--Some really nice interior design photos to see how this decorating trend is put to good use.
•  Past and Present: Anglepoise Lamps--One old industrial design element that is making a big comeback in interior design.  This article features the history of it.