Retro, at its heart, means the design language of the mid twentieth century, roughly the 1950s through the 1970s, and what defines it is a particular kind of confidence. This was the space age and the atomic age, a time that believed fervently in the future, and its patterns showed it: bold abstract shapes, exuberant op art geometrics, warm earthy palettes of mustard, avocado and burnt orange, all rendered with a cheerful, unironic swagger.
There is a reason we keep coming back to it. Nostalgia is a powerful force in decorating, and retro delivers it in its most joyful, upbeat form.
"Retro pattern carries the optimism of an age that thought tomorrow would be wonderful."
The Optimism of Another Age
The confidence is the first thing you notice. Map Xylography in Green, from Playful Layers by Tres Tintas, scatters green islands across a drawn outline and hangs beautifully above a teak sideboard. Venice in Multicoloured, from Graphics by Boråstapeter, stacks its little arches in pale blue and cream like a modernist facade.
Monolith in Cinnabar / Amber, from Defined Momentum by Harlequin, is a patchwork of terracotta and blue blocks, closer to a woven rug than a printed paper. And Organic Stack, from Twist by Eijffinger, throws torn white strokes across mustard, which is the atomic age in its most relaxed mood.
Map Xylography, Green by Tres Tintas
Venice, Multicoloured by Boråstapeter
Monolith, Cinnabar / Amber by Harlequin
Organic Stack by Eijffinger
Familiar, but Never Dull
The appeal of retro is a clever double act. On one hand it is comfortingly familiar, echoing the homes of our parents and grandparents, all warmth and memory. On the other it is genuinely bold, full of graphic energy and confident colour that feels anything but safe. That combination, the reassuring and the daring at once, is exactly what makes it such fun to live with, and it chimes perfectly with the current love of colour, character and pattern after years of beige restraint.
"Retro is nostalgia you can dance to: familiar and daring in the very same pattern."
Warmth is the other half of the story. Striped Arches in Chocolate, from Revive by Eijffinger, is an embossed brown arch that turns a room the colour of a 1974 sitting room, and means it entirely as a compliment. Beside it, Retro Chic from A S Creation blooms enormous peach and yellow flowers across the wall, at £22.99 a roll.
Seventies Floral in Pink, from Groovy, is the quieter version of the same idea, a dusty bloom drawn small and close. And its A S Creation companion sets pale peach lozenges in neat rows, which is the decade in its more restrained mood, the one that went in for a curved shelving unit and a single good chair.
Striped Arches, Chocolate by Eijffinger
Retro Chic 39530-6 by A S Creation
Seventies Floral, Pink by Eijffinger
Retro Chic 39536-5 by A S Creation
How and Where to Use It
Retro loves a room that wants to have fun. A bold, graphic design makes a joyful statement in a kitchen, a hallway or a downstairs cloakroom, and looks brilliant behind a run of mid century furniture, while a warmer, earthier pattern brings a seventies glow to a snug or a dining room. It is a natural partner to teak, tan leather and a bit of brass, and it rewards a confident hand with colour.
It need not take the whole room, either. Checks in Bleu Denim, from Line Up by Caselio, puts a denim checkerboard behind a wavy gilt mirror in a cloakroom, and Mood in Blues, from Envy, floats teal and slate pebbles around a roll top bath. Both are under £50 a roll, which makes a small room an easy place to be brave.
Checks, Bleu Denim by Caselio
Mood, Blues by Envy
Lean into the palette, the mustards and oranges and olive greens and browns, and keep the furniture simple and period appropriate. Look to houses such as Scion, Graham & Brown and Eijffinger for retro designs with real character, browse the whole retro collection, or geometric and vintage for the looks either side of it, and order a sample first to see those warm tones properly in your own light.
Everything comes back around eventually. Retro is proof that the best patterns never really retire; they just wait for us to miss them.
