…excitement! I usually do not read Russian interior magazines, but as I was playing with my fiance’s iPad I stumbled across a wide assortment of digital interior magazines in the Zinio app. I read a Taiwanese mag, one from Belgium and another one from Mexico. That is, in all sorts of languages I do not understand. Most fruitful, yet very arcane, were the magazines from Russia.

In order to give you some inspiration from a slightly different angle, from an infrequent cardinal direction, I brought some pictures. Let’s have a sneek into the latest (available) issue of Russian magazine Seasons, #66 – 2010.

When I saw these pics I was flabbergasted..! Amazed to find this cool eclectic content. But well, what was I expecting? I know people don’t all live in those richly decorated palaces of the Tsar era, neither in homes filled to the brim with babushka dolls. And there is not nouveau riche all over. It’s trendey!

Upon reflection, it was not too long ago that Russian winds breezed in over the interior design world. Russian folk style and The Mystique of the East are themes that every now and then pop up as interior decor trends. All in all, that’s enriching and inspiring I think: it is slightly different vibe. Now the conclusion from the Russian mag study is: If you wish to have a look at contemporary decor trends from a Russian perspective, Seasons is a good choice.

Some slightly more odd parts from the Russian scene can be found if you

Today, the Swedish paint manufacturer Beckers launched their AW 09/10 paint collections. Inspiration is derived from three parallel trends: Eco, that connotes to the environmental awareness with beige colours in earthy tones, white and some yellow and green hues. The colorful geometry that communicates art and freedom, with sporty and happy hues preferably with metallic luster and graphical expressions. Last but not least (rather most!) is the focus on new luxury, nouveau riche. The new luxury paint has an unconcerned saturated approach, inspired by the newly rich countries’ (read Russia, China, India..s’) “carefree” attitude and fearlessness of colours. Here we find deep, bold and sophisticated colours accented by luxurious metals such as copper, gold and bronze. They also call it shabby chic, with a slogan that goes “just do it nice enough”.