Gothic
Gothic
Interior Style History, Key Elements & Color Palette
Gothic Interior Design
This style is notorious for its dark, romantic, and ornate aesthetic. Take a look at a couple Gothic interior inspiration images below!
A Brief History
Gothic interior design originally comes from the medieval Gothic architecture of Europe. This goes all the way back to the 12th through 16th centuries in France.
The term “Gothic” was initially used as a sort of derogative term to describe this style, which was seen as barbaric in comparison to the classic medieval architecture of the time.
In the 18th century, Gothic Revival (also known as Neo-Gothic) and Victorian Gothic (a subset of Gothic Revival) emerged and gained significant popularity in the 19th century, especially in America and Britain.
During the early 20th century, Gothic interior design began to decline due to modern minimalist styles gaining traction, but the style continued to be seen in ecclesiastical buildings and academic institutions.
Then in the late 20th century, this design style made a return along with a renewed interest in historical styles during the postmodern movement!
Presently, many modern sub-groups of Gothic design design exist such as Steampunk Goth, Romantic Goth, and Industrial Goth. There are also area-based sub-groups such as Midwestern and Mediterranean Goth.
Many have come to appreciate the aesthetic today, and beyond just interior design! (Myself included)
Key Elements
Moving onto the key elements of Gothic design that make the style what it is:
Architectural elements such as pointed arches and ribbed vaults are typical features in classic Goth interior design.
Pointed arches, one of the most distinct Gothic architectural features, are usually seen in doorways, windows, furniture details.
Ribbed Vaults help provide a sense of grandeur and height, and are commonly seen in ceilings.
When it comes to furniture, Gothic interiors typically feature dark, heavy wood pieces with intricate carvings and details, or furniture upholstered with fabrics such as velvet, damask, or brocade. This helps give the space that luxurious feel.
Textural Elements such as heavy draperies, tapestries, and wall-hangings are used to add visual interest and an opulent feel.
Subdued (moody) lighting with help of chandeliers, vintage lampshades, and candles provides a medieval flair and creates ambience.
Stained glass windows, usually featuring religious or mythical scenes, are considered an absolute hallmark feature of Gothic interior design. They add a pop of color and artistry to a dark Gothic space. Expensive? Yes. Beautiful? Also yes.
Decorative accessories such as gargoyles, candles, old books and old artwork help contribute to the overall aesthetic as well.
A deep, rich color palette is a must…I get more into this below.
Color Palette
A lot of Gothic interior design images appear to make use of almost exclusively dark colors. Although yes, dark colors are very much a part of the style, they often appear darker than they actually are due to subdued lighting.
Below I’ve curated a color palette based on the inspiration images you saw earlier (and taking into account darker lighting). Here we have a couple browns with a red undertone, a cool dark brown, a dark green, a dark blue, and a black.
As you can see, most of these colors are deep and on the cooler side, helping contribute to the overall ambience and aesthetic.
The PPG color names from this palette are as follows:
Spiced Wine (PPG1016-7)
Black Magic (PPG1001-7)
Mountain Forest (PPG1130-7)
Undercover (PPG0998-7)
Royal Hyacinth (PPG1169-7)
Sweet Spiceberry (PPG1059-7)
Hopefully you enjoyed learning a bit about the history, key elements, and example color palette of Gothic interior design!
Feel free to comment below if there’s an interior style you’d like for me to cover next!