Interior designer and stylist Jonny Carmack has a “fruit room” in his Danbury, Connecticut, home. Colorful faux produce bedecks every inch, from the cherry-shaped ceiling fixture to a strawberry side table and a bunch of other juicy gems in decorative forms.
He’s part of a trend: Love for fresh fruits and vegetables is showing up not just in the kitchen but in imagery throughout the home.
Carmack sees it as fun escapism, and “a cause for conversation and celebration.” Design experts say it also reflects a cultural embrace of sustainability and an upbeat connection to nature.
“There’s a certain romance to the farmstand — it speaks to the pastoral lifestyle everyone’s craving these days,” says Rachel Hardage Barrett, Country Living magazine’s editor-in-chief.
“This gravitation toward produce motifs intersects with spikes in interest around gardening, wellness and antiques.”
Barrett sees the trend in everything from home decor to apparel. She notes the recent viral trend Tomato Girl Summer; along with the color red, and various iterations of tomatoes, the vibe was one of Mediterranean cafes, beach walks and lazy summer days.
“Tomato Girl Summer obviously had a good run, but now there’s a whole bumper crop of produce to choose from, from cabbage and radishes to strawberries and peaches,” Barrett says.
Nostalgia is in play, too
Barrett sees a revival in interest around items with cabbages and lettuce, which were common motifs in the 18th and 19th centuries. Cabbageware and lettuce ware enjoyed a revival with the Palm Beach crowd in the ‘60s, with fans like Jacqueline Kennedy, Bunny Mellon and Frank Sinatra. Now, they’ve found a new audience.
“It ties into the ‘grandmillennial’ design movement that champions beloved heirlooms,” Barrett says. “Target recently introduced a cabbageware-inspired collection that garnered more than 15 million TikTok posts.”
Social media has helped drive the fruity décor trend. In 2023, TikTokers went wild over a lemon-shaped ceramic stool at HomeGoods. The piece sold out, but the popularity of tables shaped like citrus wedges continued to grow.
This winter’s interior design, décor and lifestyles shows in Paris and Frankfurt, Germany, sometimes felt more like vibrant produce markets than trade fairs.
Booths at Maison et Objet and Ambiente were full of planters festooned with 3D grapes and watermelons; mirrors encircled in peapods or pineapples; tomato-covered cups, glasses and tableware. Lamp shades and tablecloths wore artful imagery of berry baskets and carrot bunches. Cushions burst with juicy prints. Vases were peppered with — well, peppers, in clay or papier-mache.
Los Angeles-based design editor and author Courtney Porter was at February’s Ambiente fair in Frankfurt and enjoyed seeing the playful directions that designers were taking the trend. “Colors were supersaturated, shapes were exaggerated and cartoonish,” she said.
And she liked the obvious tie-in to healthy living.
“There’s an emphasis on sustainable materials and youthfulness with this trend, as well. People are nostalgic for natural abundance,” she said.
Designers just wanna have fun
Carmack, whose social media accounts include @vintageshowpony, says the Fruit Room has been his most popular design project, “and it’s because of the cartoon references like Dr. Seuss and Animal Crossing. It just makes people happy.”
A fantastical fruit called the truffula shows up in “The Lorax.” And fruits in the Animal Crossing video games serve as trade tokens, village builders and currency.
Carmack imparts a little personality to his favorite fruits.
“Cherries are flirty and fun. Strawberries are like their younger sisters, cutesier and sweeter in nature,” he says.
Cookbook author and food columnist Alyse Whitney has embraced what’s sometimes referred to on social media as the “Grocery Girl” vibe. Her apartment’s got a wreath made out of metal mushrooms and a ceramic stool that looks like a cut lemon. Then there’s all the banana-themed stuff: a platter, salt and pepper shakers, napkin rings.
Whitney says she’s been drawn to food décor her whole life, collecting fun pieces from discount retailers and thrift stores. But when she moved from New York to Los Angeles, she went to an estate sale.
“There, I got my first Murano-style glass produce — a bell pepper, a peach and a pear. And a small ceramic soup tureen shaped like a head of cauliflower, complete with 3D leaves and a matching plate that looked like its root and greens.” Those pieces got her on a full-fledged food collectible mission.
It’s a trend that spans decorating aesthetics, says Barrett.
“If your style is more retro or youthful, you can embrace a little kitsch. For a more sophisticated look, opt for fruit motifs in the form of wallcovering or fabric,” she says.
So, eat it or decorate with it; there are lots of ways to show your love for a favorite veg or fruit.
“Dressing your home with this aesthetic is an experiment in self-expression that so many people are connecting to,” says Carmack, “and I love to see it.”
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New York-based writer Kim Cook covers design and decor topics regularly for The Associated Press. Follow her on Instagram at @kimcookhome.
For more AP Homes stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/homes.
