Design is the latest creator niche everyone’s obsessed with. Where Instagram and Pinterest have always dominated the design-core niche with aesthetic Reels and savable inspo pics. TikTok is coming to rival them both. As of yesterday, videos under the “interior design” hashtag have more than 2.3 billion views between them.
The videos are proving particularly useful amid a tricky economic time for us all as TikTokers share how to light a room for the best ambience, analysing a new celebrity home tour or giving tips on finding vintage furniture at flea markets.
Paige Wassel, a 30-year-old freelance prop stylist and YouTuber, who has more than 155,000 TikTok followers, also makes a good point is acknowledging how the Covid lockdowns and consequent remote working have increased people’s awareness of the influence of homes on their wellbeing. “Having a space that you want to be in can drastically help you — good lighting, good art, good furniture,” she told Financial Times.
Emily Rayna is a 24-year-old influencer and interior designer with almost 6 million TikTok followers. She soared to popularity thanks to videos where she documented renovating her parents’ New Hampshire home in summer 2020.Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. “Social media has definitely created a much more extensive design resource for younger generations,” she says. “With TikTok specifically, the short video style allows for younger people to be exposed more often to design-related content.
The online design marketplace 1stDibs holds proof that Gen Z cares about design and found that the average order value of purchases by Gen-Z shoppers has doubled over the past year.
Additionally Sabina Miller, director of buying at UK homewares store Heal’s, says she has noticed a growing appreciation of design among this age group. Dan Boden-Wilson, the company’s senior marketing manager, adds that Gen-Z “don’t seem to be fearful of playing the long game. Younger people moving into their own spaces, not necessarily homeowners, are aware of iconic designs like a Vitra Eames lounge chair, or a [Carl Hansen & Søn] Wishbone chair. They are starting to understand that furniture can be a life-long investment.”
As a member of Gen Z and a creative myself I think I can psychoanalyse part of the reason we care. While my generation is more economically savvy, we are more economically deprived. In the UK, the average age of first-time homebuyers increased from 29 to 32 over the decade up to 2021, while in the US the average age was 36 in 2022, up from 32 in 2018. Home ownership is a literal “hashtag life goal” and a hugely monetizable asset. Looking into home decor content is therefore hugely inspiring and aspiration. To stress our home ownership deprivation, Houzz, an online platform for home renovation, found that 18 to 24-year-olds represented less than one percent of renovating homeowners in 2022.
