In 2026, Australian homes are shifting toward calm, wellness-led interiors where every object earns its place.
Vintage Italian furniture fits this mood perfectly, offering sculptural forms, rich materials and a sense of history that slows a room down and invites you to breathe.
What is a wellness-led interior?
A wellness-led interior is designed to reduce visual noise, support daily rituals and create spaces that feel restorative rather than performative.
Instead of focusing on fast trends, these homes favour quality, tactile materials, warm lighting and layouts that make it easy to read, rest, share meals and reconnect.
In design reports for 2026, quiet luxury, visual restraint and comfort-first planning are repeatedly named as the new markers of status, replacing gloss and overt display.
Rooms are becoming more like personalised retreats: fewer pieces, better made, with a clear story behind them.
Why Italian vintage furniture suits slow living
Italian vintage furniture has long balanced ergonomics, craftsmanship and natural ease, which makes it ideal for slow living spaces.
Vintage Italian pieces add another layer: patina, history and slightly softened silhouettes that feel lived-in rather than showroom-new.
At Lumini Collections, this language comes through in sculptural lounge chairs with wraparound backs, amoeboid coffee and side tables, and monolithic travertine pieces that act as the quiet “architecture” of the room.
Image 1 - Rattan and Wood Dining Set by Marzio Cecchi for Studio Most, Italy 1970s
These objects anchor a space so you can keep everything around them almost monastic: simple linen sofas, clean walls, generous negative space.
Glass and ceramics play a key role too. Murano vases and hand-painted Italian vessels bring colour, light and movement without adding clutter, functioning as small artworks that can be rearranged with the seasons.
Placed thoughtfully, a single thick-walled Murano vase can give a corner the same presence as a painting or sculpture.
Room stories: slow living with Lumini
1. A coastal living room sanctuary
Imagine a Byron Bay living room: polished concrete floor, soft white walls, filtered light from sheer curtains.
In the centre, a curvy Italian lounge chair from Lumini Collections, upholstered in textured neutral fabric, faces a low, organically shaped coffee table in timber or stone.
Image 2 - Vintage Italian Living room as seen at Lumini Collections Showroom.
The palette stays warm and grounded—chocolate browns, sandy beiges, olive hints—tones that 2026 trend stories highlight as the new mood for vintage-rich interiors.
A single Murano glass piece on the table, its colour echoing the sea outside, becomes the only “loud” note in an otherwise quiet composition.
This is slow living as a scene: a chair that supports long reading sessions, a table that will patinate with coffee cups and notebooks, and art-glass that catches the afternoon sun.
Nothing feels fragile; the room invites daily use.
2. A wellness corner for reading and reflection
Not every slow living space needs to be a full room.
A corner can become a retreat with just three elements: a vintage Italian armchair, a small side table and a vase or vessel that sets the tone.
Place a mid-century Italian armchair in a quiet part of the home—near a window, or facing greenery if you have it.
Pair it with a compact, sculptural side table from Lumini Collections and top it with a Murano or hand-painted ceramic vase, even empty, to give the vignette height and purpose.
Image 3 - Murrine Romane Vase by Carlo Scarpa for Venini
A floor lamp in warm metal or textured plaster will pool light over the chair in the evenings, turning the spot into a ritual space for reading, journaling or simply sitting still.
The key is to keep technology at the edges and let materiality—glass, timber, stone, textile—take centre stage.
3. A grounded dining space for daily rituals
Dining rooms are natural stages for slow living.
A solid Italian travertine dining table, the kind Lumini Collections is known for, instantly sets a grounded, almost architectural tone.
Image 4 - Samo Sculptural Granite Dining Table by Carlo Scarpa, Italy 1970s
Around it, you might choose brutalist carved-wood chairs or upholstered vintage pieces in deep brown or olive, echoing the moodier 2026 palette while remaining timeless.
Above, a simple metal or glass pendant—rather than a sprawling chandelier—keeps the lighting intimate and focused on the table surface.
Image 5 - Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos Pendant Cocoon Lamp
Here, vases and vessels do subtle work: a single amber Murano vase, a group of hand-painted ceramics, or a revolving display of stems that change with the seasons.
Image 6 - Murana by Fabio Novembre for Venini
Because many pieces in Lumini’s Vase & Vessels collection are vintage or limited, each arrangement feels personal and impossible to replicate, reinforcing the sense that this room is uniquely yours.
How to start creating a slow living interior
You do not need to redesign everything at once; slow living is, by nature, incremental.
Here are a few simple ways to begin using Italian vintage pieces to support a calmer home:
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Choose one “anchor” piece per room
Select a key Italian vintage item, a lounge chair, travertine table or sculptural cabinet—and let it define the room’s mood, keeping other choices deliberately quieter. -
Prioritise comfort and ergonomics
Test seating the way you would a mattress; good slow living pieces support the body over long periods, with balanced proportions and thoughtful details. -
Work with warm, grounded tones
Lean into the rich browns, ambers, olives and creams that current design reports highlight, which pair naturally with vintage woods, leathers and stone. -
Use vases and vessels as small-scale artworks
Build a simple collection of Murano glass and mid-century ceramics from Lumini’s Vase & Vessels edit to create flexible vignettes on consoles, dining tables and shelves. -
Edit ruthlessly, then live with the space
Remove anything that doesn’t serve comfort, memory or beauty, and give yourself time to experience the room before adding new layers.
From the Byron Bay showroom to homes across Australia and Worldwide, Lumini Collections continues to champion Italian mid-century and collectible design as a way of living more slowly, not just decorating.
In a culture moving at high speed, these pieces become anchors—objects with weight, story and soul that help turn a house into a genuine sanctuary.
Located in Byron Bay, Lumini Collections welcomes visitors to explore its evolving range both online and in the showroom, with worldwide shipping available.
For those wishing to experience the detail, texture, and beauty of each piece in person, private showroom viewings are available by appointment.
Discover the collection firsthand and let Lumini help you find the perfect addition to your space.