’70s Homeware Was Loud, Eclectic & Optimistic. No Wonder It’s Back Refinery29 1/21/2021 Sadhbh O Sullivan
If you’ve never seen it before, you should look up pictures of London’s “Big Biba” shop. The seven-story department store opened in Kensington in 1973 following the explosion in popularity of Barbara Hulanicki’s fashion brand. While Biba is often associated with the 1960s (the first store opened in ’64), the interior of Big Biba was, in many ways, quintessentially ’70s. There were loud prints on the home floor, curved edges, soft geometric shapes, and a special commitment to earthy browns and oranges. It was a mishmash of art deco-inspired interiors reminiscent of the golden age of Hollywood, animal prints and beaded fringe, with an eclectic mix of trinkets and low lighting that really brought it all together. It was made to feel intimate, almost seductive an explicit rejection of the stark lighting and synthetic color palettes of the �