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THE EIGHTIES. DESIGN-WISE, IS Adecade that refuses to be summed up tidily or otherwise. Architectural modernists who helped make Bauhaus feel at home pushed us toward postmodernism, then proceeded to self-destruct. Design talents as iconoclastic as the Memphis consortium, as exquisitely stylized as Ralph Lauren, and as artfully forward-thinking as Philippe Starck burst upon our consciousness, shook the status quo, and prospered like nobody’s business. Architectural teakettles became requisite, toilets and sinks were reintroduced as ergo-dynamic sculpture, and matte black became both the medium and the message. Lighting design, both USA-born and European, became an important urban art

form-the most notorious, the Tizio lamp, became as prevalent nationally, as, say, the BMW did at SMU.

The Nineties now find us aching to clear away some of the clutter. It’s time to fold the chintz and put it away and settle into something furniture-wise that is chic and comfortable, not cruel. Memphis, the irreverent, intelligent, born-to-be-wild furnishings anomaly that debuted in Milan in ’SI as interior design’s answer to punk, burned brightly, but was forced to mainstream before the Eighties were history. While it was hot, it made us sit up, think, and have endless if-art-functions-as-furniture-is-it-art-or-is-it-furniture symposiums, while Vollenweider harped in the background. But the snap, crackle, and fizzle of Memphis only proves that most humans prefer furniture that sits quietly and can perhaps be slipcovered.

As the next decade yawns before us, we yearn for substantive design. Realism is in. Faux has died a timely death. And what this means is that we have to glance back to the future rather than jumping ahead. The recycling of architecture and furnishings from the past and the longevity of the good stuff we spent the last ten years feverishly acquiring will be important.

Traditionalists will pare down, trading English country overkill for realistic restraint. We’ll wave goodbye to Southwestern as too contrived and welcome authentic ethnic touches. Chintz will fade in lieu of more graphic prints rooted in op art but better. White walls will look good again.

Subdued, recessed, moody lighting will give way to lighting that we can actually see by. In the Nineties we want to see where we live, we want to see the food on our plates, we want to see our children and friends sitting next to us. In fact, natural lighting will be the best touch of all.

Handmade, hands-on objects will he what we want and craftsmen will be among the design stars in the Nineties. Heavy metal furnishings, wrought in iron and steel, will seem as artfully at home inside the house as out in the garden. Old-fashioned, romantic flowers, casually dis-arranged, will be better than artfully placed blossoms.

We’ll think of our home’s furnishings as a collection to be selectively mixed and matched, rather than shopped for en masse. And we’ll buy one piece at a time, layering textures and shapes and adding special pieces that say something about who we are, instead of who Ralph Lauren wants us to be. AH of a sudden, well find comfort in the mix, the mingling of styles.

Design stars who get media coverage in the Nineties will be crossover artists, exchanging one discipline for another, redefining the things that look good in our homes, our offices, and the spaces we play in. In the Eighties it was sheets: every fashion designer with a recognizable name debuted at least one boudoir collection. In the Nineties it’ll be furnishings. Shop now for stellar tabletop goodies from Paloma Picasso and Elsa Peretti. Nan Swid and Addy Powell, the two women who brought us the Swid Powell collection of affordable flatware and service pieces designed by the world’s finest architectural talents, have initiated a delicious Nineties wave of the same that’s painfully desirable. In fact, dinner parties will be the hearth and heart of the Nineties as we reevaluate what good companions and quality conversation mean. To buy now? Silver frames and candlesculpture from jewelry designer Lisa Jenks and the only examples of the Eighties verdigris ilk worth saving: the exquisite furniture and tabletop objects from architect Steven Holl for The Pace Collection.

Guarding the world’s ecological balance will become even more of an issue in the Nineties. Which means it’s time for us, as good citizens, to banish hardwoods like teak and mahogany from our wish lists and replace them with recycled antiques. It V also time to think of pine as cool again because it’s plentiful. Stone age was a term used often in the Eighties to describe faux fossilstone furnishings. In this decade, found objects from nature, like crystals and fossils (the real thing), will become required as items to be worn and to be lived with.

To look forward to: a simple modern mix you can live with, softened edges, comfortable chic, individual style. All coming home in the Nineties.