Over the last 5 years, South American interior designers and design retail have finally been getting the headlines they deserve.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In high-end residential and hospitality projects across the southern and western United States and even in pockets of Europe, South American interior design, part nostalgic colonial, part indigenous, part neo-modern, is becoming a recognizable trend: layered textiles, crafted materials, oversized armoires from some lost estancia, a gaucho's dagger and deconstructionist street art all in the same room. The aesthetic isn't happening in a vacuum. According to Polaris Market Research, it correlates with a growing global services market estimated at a whopping $248.56 billion in 2024 for interior design. According to Grand View Research, it also trends with a strengthening Latin America interior design market estimated at $15.38 billion in 2024.
What's changing finally is visibility and placement and an intrigue perhaps for young, reformist modern governments emerging from decayed socialist regimes scarred by ghosts from their colonial past. South American designers are finally being profiled by major U.S. and European design media, tapped for trophy apartments, and recognized on global tastemaker lists. Architectural Digest, for example, regularly spotlights Juan Pablo Molyneux—who works between New York and Paris and has been honored on the magazine's AD100 Hall of Fame. Other upcoming designers that exemplify this South American tour du luxe include: Brazilian, Sig Bergamin, widely published by Elle Décor for maximalist, globally sourced interiors, Venezuelan, Carlos Mota, Brazilian, Andre Mellone and Venezuelan, Neil Zuleta.
Beyond South American designers, the interior design retail space is trending up quickly with everything from furniture, textiles to wallpaper from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Materials and shipping are relatively inexpensive compared to the increasing labor costs of China and southeast Asia, and well-crafted.
Brazil leads this retail export wave with brands such as Etel Design, Tecline, and Jader Almeida represented in New York, Milan, and Paris. In fact, Brazilian furniture exports reached over $1.2 billion in 2023, with the U.S. and Europe among the fastest-growing destinations according to the Brazilian Furniture Industry Association. Argentine and Colombian studios like Calma House and Arauco Studio are increasingly specified for boutique hotels and residential projects, while Brazilian wallpaper and surface brands are entering European design houses traditionally dominated by Scandinavian and Italian aesthetics.
In addition to cultural intrigue and good economics, South American design has growing geopolitical leverage. For while the US, Canada and Europe are revving up to diversify their trade markets and seek untapped natural resources, from wood to rare minerals and oil, modern South American governments are no longer passive suppliers, less inclined to corruption and more demanding for favorable trade terms.
In fact, what the world is witnessing is not a trend perhaps, but a rebalancing of global power, one interior at a time.
By Christina Galbraith Global Decor
Christina Galbraith Global Decor (@CGGlobalDecor) / X
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SOURCE Christina Galbraith Global Decor
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