NO MORE IKEA MALM

How gen-Z is revolutionizing the furniture and home decor industry with maximalism.

By Quintynn Vaughn, Events Coordinator

Each generation has a color: Boomers were neutrals, Gen X was basics, Millen- nials were Millennial Pink, and Gen Z is bright yellow. Over the past century, each generation has witnessed a series of historical events and technological advances that have made the differences between generations more stark than ever before. While a couple decades ago, it was uncommon for one to identify strongly with the time period in which one was born, modern day youth heavily define themselves based on their generation. It's important to understand why Gen Z and Millennials feel that they are so different from the elders because it demonstrates how much progress and change has happened in the past few decades.

The different identities of each generation are historically and culturally complex. To understand a generation and the point of view of the world and the future that is shared by its members can be attributed to the circumstances at play during the first 15-20 years of the lives of the members. Hillary Hoffower of Business Insider writes that “It's typical for the economy to affect consumers' color choices. During a recession, they seek out familiar and reassuring colors like browns, neutrals, and blacks.” She continues by discussing how when the economy is strong, there is more hopefulness for the future and bright colors and neons tend to resurface. Recently, these identities have been reduced down, for simplicity's sake, to a color that represents each generation - Gen Z yellow and Millennial Pink being the most iconic examples of this phenomenon.

Millennials associated with the subdued pastel pink that later came to be defined as millennial pink. This color and its muted tones in many ways represents the generations’ favor of minimalism which was seen everywhere in the early 2010’s as Millennials moved away from home and started decorating their living spaces. In fact, minimalism was not just a trend during this time, it took over the fashion industry, social media, the marketing industry, and decor and furniture companies everywhere.

Following the Covid-19 Pandemic, the world underwent a massive shift that integrated the extreme use of technology in every aspect of human life. This time period and the increased usage of social media while everyone was at home during quarantine allowed for and inspired great social change that many would argue was long overdue. These events in addition to the fact that today's youth grew up in a post-9/11 and post-2008 recession world caused this generation, Gen Z, to be defined by a desire to implement change and a hopefulness for the future all through the lens of the new digital world. Gen Z’s individualistic attitudes have also contributed to the defining of the bright colors they are attracted to. Angelica Ray of FastCompany.com writes that “Gen Z has adopted a distinct palette that has one foot in techno-nostalgia and another in the aesthetics of the current digital world. It’s a preference that’s seeped from viral social media campaigns into Gen Z-focused brands, and finally into the mainstream for everyone else to consume”

As this generation moves out of their family homes and starts to purchase furniture and decor for their new living spaces, the furniture market has had to accommodate the overwhelming demand for exciting and out of the box pieces that are colorful and eye-catching. In addition to furniture, marketing campaigns, fashion, television shows, movies, everyday products, and more has had to change to incorporate bright, jaw dropping, attention grabbing aspects of their products in order to reel in this new generation of consumers.

As this generation’s desire for minimalistic and out of this world products continues to dominate the consumer industry, all of America will continue to shift towards maximalism and its overwhelming call for the extreme as Gen Z continues to call for radical change and begins to enter the workforce with beautiful and bright hopes for the future.

1https://www.fastcompany.com/90865212/once-you-spot-gen-zs-favorite-colors-youll-see-them-everywhere 2https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/beauty/why-gen-z-yellow-will-never-be-millennial-pink/ 3https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-pink-gen-z-yellow-very-peri-orchid-flower-generational-colors-202 2-1