A Taste To Start
A room without layers often feels rigid and unwelcoming.
Letter From The Tastemaker
An archive of lived decisions reside in all the spaces touched by us. Objects collected, books read, places inhabited, experiences digested and none of them are static.
Our experiences simply become layered on countertops and chairs. The best is when it occurs over time. Because nothing truly refined happens instantly…
True taste is like a layered cake. Each layer is one’s environment, decor or aesthetic that carries history.
→ the tarnish on a table, a mismatched chair, a found object with a story.
→ in fashion or interior worlds: layering pieces that speak to each other across time rather than match perfectly (especially since fashion trends recycle every 20 years).
→ in professional terms: a brand or space that reveals depth on the second, third, or tenth encounter.
These pieces and ideas grow richer as you live with them.
There’s a certain beauty in taste that accumulates quietly.
Having this level of taste is about knowing what “more” means to you, not just stacking more of everything.
For today’s world of digital moodboards and AI-generated sameness, this type of resistance to taste is almost radical. I know.
The preference to reassert human sensibility and the patience to discover one’s visual language is the return of connoisseurship as we know it.
Today’s world of “more” could use the ancient practice of this slow accumulation. More often, it is in slow accumulation that we assert when not to add. But time decides when something belongs.
Curation is the bridge that connects the styles, textures, colors that otherwise would have no connection.
Pieces that endlessly are collected and chosen, tested, edited, and sometimes returned to the shelf until they finally find their place.
Taste is a process, not a final decision.
In my line of work, I’m constantly moving things around—on paper, in Adobe, in my sample closet, across moodboards and client meetings, where each adjustment narrows to the question: what belongs, and what’s in my way?
It’s the same instinct when you keep returning to the same chair, the same fabric, the same motif—like Picasso, who spent decades reshaping the same faces, the same bodies, each time closer to what he meant to say.
Real maximalism is that same instinct: not more for the sake of more, but more with intention.
It is layering until the room, the brand, or the wardrobe feels like it has lived, chosen, and earned its abundance.
It’s baking that cake with the reality that its ingredients shape the depth of every layer, and time decides how sweet, how rich, how necessary it truly becomes 🍰
To The Max: The Maximalist Trend
Spaces, places and people are filling up with color, ornament and full of personality.
In a broader social & economic context, today’s maximalism is:
A reaction to years of austerity, minimal branding, and subdued tones (cultural counterpoint to 2020’s minimalism).
The psychological craving for identity, play, and individuality post‑uniformity era
“Quiet Luxury” is in a current state of fatigue
The reality of what this trend signals is:
Curation at the highest level (not the excess that most associate it with).
This is not adding every color of the rainbow and texture in a room
A rejection of neutrality as a default
A newfound confidence in taste, a willingness to be specific
The tactical insights you’ll want to consider:
For developers: maximalist placemaking and sensory branding.
→ Instead of generic luxury, your typical neutral stone, beige lounges, soft lighting everywhere, a developer can create a sensory identity through bold lobbies, dramatic materiality, curated art, rich scent, and patterned surfaces.For brands: narrative excess as a differentiator (think Gucci, or experiential hospitality).
→ For brands, narrative excess means building a universe around a product or collection. Maximalism helps when a brand wants to feel theatrical, collectible, or culturally loaded. Gucci under Alessandro Michele became a strong case study because the brand embraced eclectic layering, historical references, velvet, embroidery, etc.For individuals: expression as capital and how signature abundance drives desirability
→ Expression becomes capital when a personal style is recognizable enough to become part of their value. That does not mean being loud for its own sake. It means developing a signature visual language that people associate with discernment. Someone who consistently mixes vintage jewelry, a strong silhouette, unusual color combinations, and one or two signature objects in their home may become known for a particular point of view.
Note: Maximalism can act as a differentiator because it creates a distinctive world people can recognize, remember, and want to enter. In other words: it is not only visual excess, it is your market positioning.
A great example of heritage maximalism, where the space feels rich because it mixes eras, textures and references intentionally:
Explicitly references haute couture and uses art deco inspired public spaces.
A fresco, historic photographs, strategic pops of color, and preserved historic elements like herringbone floors and plaster moldings.
Note: This is where maximalism shows up as collector energy, a theatrical hospitality, and in some ways immersive event design (see below), not just busy or obnoxious decoration.
Hotel Maison Hamlin Paris (former headquarters of the Maison Paquin Haute Couture fashion house) hangs mannequins on the walls to honor the building's history. This design choice is intended to create a "couture feel" and establish a "timeless couture brand" atmosphere.
For those reimagining how abundance can drive cultural and commercial growth, upcoming insights and limited strategy sessions are now open.
Lifestyle + Experiential Assets
If walls could talk, what would they say?
Well, these walls would probably cradle you to sleep humming a soft nature’s song in your dreams. Instabilelab wallpaper is a Milan-inspired, design-led wallcovering that transforms surfaces into immersive environments while blending graphic art, material innovation, and Italian craftsmanship to create spaces that feel curated, expressive, and atmospheric.
What I adore about this special elevated add-on:
▪ Each wallpaper acts as a visual story by using patterns, textures, and graphics to shape mood and emotion within a space.
▪ From bold maximalist compositions to refined minimal motifs, adaptable across residential, retail, and hospitality environments.
▪ Designed for life on the go, every element ensures your fragrance travels safely without compromising on luxury.
▪Advanced surfaces including tactile, fabric-like textures and embellished backings (e.g. metallics, crystals) for a strong visual and sensory impact
Instabilelab’s collaborative design-led approach creates through a laboratory model involving designers, architects, and creatives and focusing on experimentation and pushing beyond traditional wall coverings…
…to create conceptually intriguing works blending space and time.
(or hit REPLY, and let us source something special for you)
Pushed a bit further but never lost in translation.
…it’s the taste that always brings it back.
