Of all the shapes to see in 2021, no form dominated quite like the wiggle. Across product categories, wiggles and squiggles found their way into our homes and brought forth a burst of whimsical energy. Though we’ve been noticing the shape for decades (in the work of everyone from Alvar Aalto to Frank Gehry), it was this year that the wiggle saw a wave of new appeal from a massive audience of design enthusiasts.
The Swedish designer Gustaf Westman is one of the many faces that has become associated with the wiggle trend, a pandemic phenomenon that provided a soft and soothing getaway from a most uncertain reality. “Trends are interesting since they very much reflect the time we are living in, but on the other hand, this is not the fashion industry,” Gustaf says. “I love that furniture design is much slower, and my plan is absolutely to keep on with my style for a long time.”
As we previously noted in our 2021 trend predictions, wiggles and squiggles have always been popular because of the “long-standing connection between organic, biophilic forms and the subtle use of natural shapes to enhance human connection to nature and creativity.” The New York designer Sophie Collé is guided by the fact that “humans are comforted by things that we know and see already.” This draw, she feels, is at the heart of a current design renaissance in which the widespread discourse is around the fun of styling a space.
“More than a singular shape like the wiggle, what I’ve noticed is that people are way more willing and excited to do new things with their homes,” she says. “I’m excited for this renaissance of giving the power back to the people and trying to put as much information on the internet as possible.”