How To Choose The Right Brick For Your Next Interior Project

BRING BRICK INSIDE TO ADD A LAYER OF TEXTURE AND AUTHENTICITY TO YOUR INTERIOR AESTHETIC. 

As any professional knows, texture is key to creating interest in an interior design scheme. Pulling together a strong interior palette involves a curated combination of materials, surfaces and colours layered in a cohesive way.

PGH Bricks has collaborated with leading textile manufacturer, Warwick Fabrics, to create considered and inspirational palettes that reflect the latest trends in interior design. Beautiful new fabric collections complement bricks selected from the PGH range to create innovative mood boards perfect for modern Australian homes.

“Texture is the real hero of current and future trends,” says Joint Managing Director of Warwick Fabrics, Cam Warwick. “It has become an essential element in our interiors due to its timeless and versatile aesthetic that complements pattern and colour beautifully.”

The concept to include brick and its accompanying textural depth in mood boards reflects the trend towards designing from the outside in – continuing the dialogue between the internal and external elements of a home.

It’s about a contiguous connection between the key entertaining spaces of a home and allowing texture to play the starring role, especially in design schemes that use a modern muted palette.

Forecasting Interior Trends

The business of forecasting interior trends is serious stuff. The design team from Warwick Fabrics spend the better part of the year researching what’s happening in the world of design – and what might be coming next – to stay one step ahead of the consumer.

And Cam Warwick says that while these last couple of years have been a little different, trend forecasting has continued.

“Normally our design team will travel locally and internationally to textile trade shows, London Design Week and trend forecasting lectures/workshops promoting the latest textures, colours, patterns, etc,” he says.

“During Covid times, these events have continued, but shifted to online platforms.”

Warwick Fabrics' Futurity collection, paired with PGH Bricks' Luxury Noir Style.

Key Colour Palettes

Warwick Fabrics has identified four colour palettes for 2022 – Futurity, Wayfarer, Terrain and Cocoon. Each has its own combination of shades that reflect the move to natural materials and sustainability.

These palettes echo the Styles identified by the PGH design team, with each complementing each other. Here’s how they match:

• Futurity: Strong and vibrant colours, clean black and white neutrals balanced with soft pastels that create an eclectic mix of depth and contrast.
• Complements Luxury Noir, which is deep and dramatic, a monochromatic palette of opulent finishes inspired by high-end design.
  
  
• Wayfarer: Rich, dark and moody colour combinations.
• Matches Dark & Stormy, a rich and confident style, with a wide spectrum of moody shades of chocolate, smoke, charcoal and black.
  
  
• Terrain: Earthy browns, forest greens, desert tones and ocean blues.
• Works well with Natural Habitat, a tranquil and authentic style, embracing warm browns, soft forest greens and gentle neutrals steeped in nature.
  
  
• Cocoon: Soft, warm neutrals paired with muted colours.
  • Reflects the Hamptons At Home style, which is light and effortless, embodying a warm and pared-back sensibility with a fresh, invigorating palette.

For details on the fabrics, bricks and accessories chosen to reflect these new palettes, see here.

“Bricks are an organic material, which makes for a complementary element that pairs well with a huge variety of fabrics on upholstery, drapery and soft furnishings,” explains Cam Warwick.

Not sure about your design style – or want to help your clients understand their aesthetic? Take the PGH Bricks Style Quiz here.

Warwick Fabrics' Wayfarer collection, paired with PGH Bricks' Dark & Stormy Style.

Natural Charms

Warwick says their design team is seeing a strong return to natural materials such as brick in interior trends for 2022, using bricks as part of their interior mood boards, and moving away from traditional notions of brick only being an external material.

Specifying brick indoors also creates a connection between inside and out aesthetics, reflecting the move towards a more casual way of living and connection to nature.

“Sustainability has become an integral part of interiors, which has driven the shift towards sourcing and using natural and/or recycled materials across the board,” he says.

“A benefit of using natural materials in interiors is their inherent longevity – they won’t date as quickly as trend-based aesthetics can.”

Where To Use Bricks Inside

If you are looking to add the textural and natural style of brick to your interiors, brickwork can be incorporated as feature walls, fireplace surrounds, or even architectural elements such as flooring, archways and kitchen splashbacks – the opportunities are endless.

With trend experts seeing a return to softer, rounded shapes inside, bricks are also ideally placed to provide textural layers and still offer the flexibility of curved or sculptural profiles in internal walls or even kitchen islands.

Warwick Fabrics' Terrain collection, paired with PGH Bricks' Natural Habitat Style.

How To Choose The Right Brick For Your Home

Luxury Noir + Futurity:

• Explore a dark, confident brick with a gloss finish such as Morada - Nero Gloss that provides a modern slick aesthetic.
  
  

Dark & Stormy + Wayfarer:

• Bringing exterior brickwork such as Metallic - Pewter indoors will create a powerful style statement as a feature wall or signature fireplace.
  
  

Natural Habitat + Terrain:

• Use Pure Linens - Whispering White or Manhattan - Chelsea as a base palette for brick floors, interior spaces and exterior facades to create a harmonious and authentic natural sanctuary.
  
  

Hamptons At Home + Cocoon:

• Layer multiple materials such as Simply Hamptons and Manhattan - Chelsea with natural fabrics, soft furnishings or relaxed timbers for an easy, effortless look
  
  

It’s also worth playing with different bond patterns to create drama. A stacked bond adds a contemporary overlay, especially when used with a streamlined modern brick such as Morada - Nero Linear. Mortar choices also play a part – choose a contrasting mortar colour to create drama or match the brick to the mortar for a strong statement, which is especially useful on a fireplace or feature wall.

Warwick Fabrics' Cocoon collection, paired with PGH Bricks' Hamptons At Home Style.

Want To Know More About Bringing Brick Inside For Your Next Project?

Whether renovating or building a dream home, choosing the right brick is an important decision as it helps to set the base for your design. When beginning the build journey, designing from the outside in helps to simplify and inform other key decisions, ensuring that a new home is cohesive and reflects your aesthetic.

Contact PGH Bricks to discuss your brick ideas and needs or visit a PGH Selection Centre to chat with one of our expert Colour Consultants.