Calm is not a decorative afterthought in design but an architectural condition. It is shaped through considered proportions, honest materials, deep discipline when thinking of the natural light available and of course a healthy dose of restraint.
This month’s Design Digest has been inspired by the Pantone colour of the year – Cloud Dreamer. Though somewhat controversial, this is a hue that does not announce itself, but rather, it lingers. It is true that this shade behaves less like a colour than previous Pantone alumni, but it is in this sense that it aligns with the Katharine Pooley approach to interiors.
Cloud Dreamer operates as a visual pause, making it a versatile and timeless shade. It sits in between soft chalk and a pale, mineral grey much like an overcast sky. It is not an emotional colour designed to evoke the obvious (like red for passion, or yellow for joy) but rather, it holds space for visual peace by reducing contrast and softening edges.
When the Katharine Pooley team considers a space, it takes an entirely holistic approach. Coherence to the surrounding environment and harmony with the lives within it is integral to our Studio’s design process and so there is a deep respect for restraint and knowing what detail to employ and when.
SPATIAL CONSIDERATION
Calm is never achieved through a single surface or object, but by the coherence and the relationship between floor, walls, ceiling and everything in between. The absence of gloss across surfaces is almost critical – light absorbed and diffused is much more peaceful than sharp reflections. The moment a surface becomes performative, it is disruptive.
MATERIALS
Material choice underpins calm. This shade sits naturally with pale timbers and mineral surfaces – European oak, bleached walnut, honed limestone, soft travertine – where depth comes from grain and veining rather than contrast, allowing texture to replace colour. Textiles follow the same restraint. Linen or wool sheers soften light and sound, while upholstery remains tightly woven and quiet. Anything overly tactile or expressive disrupts the visual stillness.
RESTRAINT AND FLOW
Calm interiors avoid warmth, nostalgia and aspiration, offering instead a neutral framework that allows occupants to project their own states of mind. This neutrality must extend through circulation: corridors, stairwells, window and door placement and thresholds shape emotional pacing and demand the same restraint.
A feeling of peace is achieved through thoughtful subtraction: furniture is spaced to allow rooms to breathe, art is intentional and objects pared back.
Calm spaces are not passive but rather a deep practice in intention. When approached with discipline, peaceful hues like Cloud Dreamer compliments rather than dominates and allows proportion, materiality and light to take precedence. It does not promise mood enhancement or lifestyle elevation but instead offers something rarer: spatial neutrality in a visually aggressive world. Calm is not comfort or softness, but clarity.
