The Renaissance Reset and Why Interior Design Must Unlearn to Reimagine
- Brainz Magazine
- Apr 30, 2025
- 3 min read
Written by Tamala Alice Mwamba, Interior Designer
Tamala is the founder of Palms Warehouse & Design Studio, a creative interior design company focused on crafting personalized and soulful spaces. She combines digital design skills with a passion for storytelling to help clients feel truly at home.
The Renaissance was more than a moment in history; it was a creative revolt. Artists, scientists, and thinkers shattered old paradigms, ushering in a wave of reinvention that redefined how humanity expressed itself. It wasn’t orderly. It wasn’t comfortable. But it was necessary.
Today, the interior design world is desperate for a similar rupture. We don't need another neutral palette. We don’t need another mood board recycling Pinterest clichés. What we need is a reset, a Renaissance rooted not in style, but in thought. Because right now, we’re not designing with courage. We’re decorating within boundaries.
Design is in a crisis of comfort
At some point, principles became prisons. What once guided creative freedom now fuels a culture of sameness. Open-plan living, Scandinavian minimalism, and biophilic design are all aesthetics for meaning.
The result? A safe, digestible design landscape that rarely surprises, let alone challenges, the valuable, but they’ve become default settings. We’re mistaking function for innovation and human spirit.
There’s a growing sense of visual déjà vu. You scroll through social media and see spaces that, while beautiful, blend into each other. We're designing for algorithms, not for impact.
And perhaps the hardest question to ask is this:
When was the last time your design made someone feel something unexpected?
Unlearning is the gateway to innovation
The Renaissance wasn’t birthed by those who followed rules. It was sparked by minds willing to unlearn. Michelangelo saw raw stone as divine potential. Brunelleschi challenged sacred geometry. Even da Vinci’s notebooks were filled with unfinished thoughts, proof that genius doesn’t demand polish, but presence.
Interior design needs to rediscover this rawness. To do that, we must shed the ego of expertise and relearn the humility of experimentation. That means embracing failure, resisting replication, and creating without the safety net of approval.
True innovation begins when we choose to design for questions, not answers.
Designing beyond the expected
Take Frank Gehry, a living embodiment of Renaissance thinking. He didn’t build for symmetry. He sculpted spaces like jazz, unpredictable, bold, and unapologetically personal. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, with its fluid titanium forms, challenged the very notion of what a building could be. It wasn’t made to be liked. It was made to be remembered.
We need more of that energy.
Ask yourself:
If your space disappeared tomorrow, would anyone miss it?
Are you designing for permanence or Pinterest?
Does your work challenge perception or comfort it?
Design isn’t a template. It’s a translation of experience. And in a world starved for authenticity, designing for meaning over mass appeal is the most rebellious act you can commit.
The death of relevance and why it’s a gift
There’s a silent fear haunting designers today: irrelevance. We cling to what’s popular because we want to be seen. But relevance is fleeting. Legacy, on the other hand, is built through risk.
Being different in today’s climate isn’t just difficult, it’s inconvenient. But the most iconic movements in design, art, and culture weren’t born from consensus. They were born from contradiction.
We must learn to design in spite of the times, not because of them.
Conclusion: Designing for the future, not just the feed
The Renaissance wasn’t a return to the past. It was a radical step into the unknown. And the design world needs to do the same. We don’t need another beige room. We need brave rooms. Spaces that evoke emotion, challenge norms, and remind us that design is not decoration, it is identity, culture, and memory.
This is a call to all designers:
Stop following the script. Write your own.
Start designing not to impress, but to imprint.
The Renaissance wasn’t an era. It was a mindset. Let’s bring it back.
Read more from Tamala Alice Mwamba
Tamala Alice Mwamba, Interior Designer
Tamala is the founder of Palms Warehouse & Design Studio, an interior design company focused on delivering personalized and functional spaces. With a strong foundation in digital design, space planning, and visual storytelling, she combines creativity with strategy to develop thoughtful, client-centered solutions. Her work is shaped by a global perspective and a deep understanding of how design impacts wellbeing and productivity. Tamala is passionate about making interior design both impactful and accessible, helping individuals and businesses bring their vision to life with clarity and purpose.
