Accents & Décor: More is… MORE
For decades, design schools drilled into us the mantra of restraint: less is more. Mies van der Rohe gave us the purity of form. Minimalism elevated emptiness into elegance. But every pendulum eventually swings back — and today, interiors are embracing the unapologetic truth that more is, in fact… MORE.
Gio Ponti’s interiors proved that personality lies in the details — color, ceramics, and layered accents transforming architecture into art
Accents and décor are no longer quiet afterthoughts. They are leading characters. A Gio Ponti mirror, an Ettore Sottsass vase, or a Fornasetti screen does more than decorate a room — it commands it. These objects are not just embellishments; they are punctuation marks, altering the rhythm of a space and giving it personality.
The Italians have always understood this. Gio Ponti’s interiors, whether in Milanese apartments or the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Sorrento, brimmed with layered colors, ceramics, and art. Sottsass and the Memphis Group in the 1980s pushed ornament to a new frontier, embracing geometry, laminate, and neon in ways that were once dismissed as playful excess — but are now collected as icons of radical design.
Even Karl Lagerfeld, who famously lived surrounded by stacks of books, mirrored walls, and neoclassical sculpture, proved that abundance could be chic. His homes were curated chaos, every surface alive with narrative. And today, designers like Kelly Wearstler carry that torch, with interiors that feel like stage sets of sculptural furniture, bold pattern, and fearless layering.
At JPD, we see accents and décor as the soul of a room. Architecture sets the canvas; furniture establishes function; but accents tell the story. They are where a space becomes personal, where memory and material intertwine. One can live in a white box, but it is the collected objects — the lacquered tray, the oversized vessel, the perfectly imperfect artwork — that transform it into a world.
“More” doesn’t mean clutter. It means layering with intent. Contrasting scales, bold silhouettes, and tactile surprises ensure that abundance feels curated rather than accidental. In this sense, maximalism becomes a new form of minimalism — a discipline of excess.
In an era of algorithmic sameness, to embrace “more” is to embrace individuality. It is rebellion through beauty. After all, a home should never whisper. It should converse — fluently, and with flair.
