It doesn’t matter if your business advises on personal finance or personal finesse, the Outside In trend offers many opportunities for savvy brands.

As climate change forces us indoors, more and more people are exploring ways to recreate the outdoor experience without all its headaches. The Outside In trend incorporates elements of fantasy, abstraction, and facsimile to reimagine nature as we wish it to be.

The Outside In trend takes a lot of clues from biophilic design but interprets nature through radically different lenses. Where biophilic architecture focuses on natural elements that have contributed to our evolutionary survival, Outside In does not limit itself to such literal definitions of nature, nor does it stick to notions of realism. Rather, it often incorporates elements of fantasy, abstraction, or facsimile.

Layers that hide as much as they reveal or that distort as much as they delineate. Floral fantasies that explode on walls, opening us to a different world. Even the comfort of an oversized sofa is enhanced by the peaceful purr of a feline friend (imagined or otherwise). Milan Design Week exposed our cultural appetite for escapism.