Beige sofas, smooth woodwork, perfectly aligned scented candles: the aesthetic quiet luxury has invaded our living rooms, our Instagram feeds and even our wardrobes. This discreet luxury, inspired by fashion and the world of crooners, offered a chic alternative to bling-bling, focusing on quality and sobriety rather than flashy logos.
But by dint of neutrality, many interiors have ended up looking the same, almost like showrooms where we don’t dare to live. In decoration, a new wave is shaking up polished minimalism: the trend Found Luxuryor found luxury, promises a more lived-in decor, nourished by memories and discoveries. And this is where the story gets interesting.
From quiet luxury to Found Luxury: why discreet luxury is changing face
The discreet luxuryas defended for example by the French brand Thelma Rose, goes well beyond a style: it is a lifestyle choice that favors quality, craftsmanship and durability rather than accumulation. The columnist Jean-Baptiste Tuzet also describes this quiet luxury as the art of possessing beautiful things without showing them off, an elegance of attitude rather than demonstration.
For decorator Lauren Sullivan, founder of Well x Design, this shift was necessary: “I think it’s a more honest direction. ‘Discreet’ luxury has always seemed a little too polished and controlled. ‘Found’ luxury is more linked to the way people actually live: “layering pieces over time, mixing old and new, and not needing everything to match or be finished in one go,” she told Homes and Gardens magazine.
Found Luxury trend: luxury found, lived in, with real stories
Concretely, the trend Found Luxury keeps the taste for beauty and the know-how of quiet luxury, but refuses the fixed interior. Decorator Olivia Needham describes layered and lived-in interiors that are built slowly, from inherited objects, found, brought back from travel or chosen for their patina. A found interior is never really finished: it evolves to the rhythm of the lives of those who live there.
Designer Lauren Saab sums up well what this approach changes in an overly demure living room: “Discreet luxury purifies everything, while found luxury brings back the soul. The problem with discreet luxury is that it often ends up looking like a showroom. Perfect but forgettable. Found luxury corrects this by introducing contrast, history and pieces that don’t go together on paper but make total sense when brought together in a space. A room without contrast falls flat, but as soon as you introduce it, the space comes to life. Newfound luxury wins because it trades perfection for presence,” she explains.
Adopt Found Luxury at home: a lived-in interior, far from disposable luxury
Good news, no need to buy everything again to upgrade to Found Luxury. Decorators recommend starting from your sober base, then adding a few strong pieces: a marked wood table, a vintage armchair, an artisanal ceramic vase, a family painting. Designer Jen Baxter warns: “The opposite of found luxury is not discreet luxury, it’s disposable luxury. Pieces that seem expensive when new and are damaged a year later, or objects that carry no history,” she warns.
In France, this often happens through flea markets, estate sales, second-hand platforms and the work of local artisans, who give extra soul to a piece of furniture or lighting. The mind Found Luxuryit means accepting that an interior remains in movement: editing, adding, moving, throughout encounters and memories. Less searching for the perfect photo, more letting the house tell the story, quietly, of who you are.
