WoW..... the're back!

                                                                                                  Bold colours and cartoon shapes spell a return to power dressing for the home. The first examples of this bright, brash look have been visible last spring  at the Milan Furniture Fair, and now the trend has hit the shops. Bright colours and patterns are a perfect antidote to recession gloom and winter dullness.

                                        It has all started in the Eighties when Italian icon Ettore Scottsass founded a Milan based collective called Memphis. The idea was to represent a joyful rebellion against the design establishment; less conventional good taste and more light-hearted excess. After Scottsass died in December 2007, there was a flurry of tributes to his unique style, prompting a reinterpretation of the designs of the period.

                                  Memphis was active from 1981 to 1985 and got its name from Bob Dylan's lyric that stuck at the word "Memphis" on Scottsass's record player.Handily this moniker summoned up its influences, which ranged from rock'n'roll and kitsch,to the gaudy colours of ancient Egypt.

             Karl Lagerfeld was a fun, furnishing his Monte Carlo apartment with its designs.

So how do you get the look? Home in on fun accessories or invest in a "future classic" that will outlast the trend like the sofa below.

 based on Elle Decoration/February 2009