You often hear the term contemporary design being bandied about by people whose job it is to comment on such things – but does it have a real meaning?

For most of us, it conjures up images of rather stark interior designs of clean lines, scarcity of furnishings and perhaps an overall “Bauhaus” look. But this isn’t necessarily the case.

What the term actually means is something modern that is the opposite of traditional. But there really is no “traditional” any more – unless traditional is now contemporary – in which case contemporary becomes traditional!

So it’s all rather confusing, but as a general rule we accept that contemporary architects and designers do, generally speaking, use the kind of clean lines one would generally associate with the term. But contemporary designers also borrow heavily from other styles such as Gothic and Romanesque in both their designs and architecture.

Contemporary interior design most usually involves clean-lines in the design of furniture, striking colours, and offbeat / abstract ideas for rugs, chairs, tables and other furnishings and wall colours or coverings etc.

So for example, the classic New York loft apartment look would usually be accurately described as contemporary whereas an English stately home would not.

What it doesn’t mean in practice (despite the literal meaning of the word) is modern. Quite a lot of “contemporary” design dates back to Paris in the 1920s and the advent of the art deco movement, for example. The movement went into a decline, but enjoyed a great resurgence during the 1960s and since then – and most designers would describe the overall impression of art deco as contemporary.

Broadly speaking then, there is no strict definition beyond the opposite of tradition – but in practice, think about contemporary design as being simple, clean and uncluttered and you’re in the right area of understanding.