Cultural trends or patterns aren’t arbitrary or random; rather, they are manifestations of the zeitgeist: the spirit of the time. Attitudes, aesthetics, behaviors, and language bubble underneath, eventually coming to the surface in the form of a new trend or pattern visible to the naked eye.  Such was the case with a new furniture aesthetic that I took notice of, with inflated and exaggerated forms that proudly stood out from the ubiquitous rustic farmhouse and mid-century modern crowd.  Referred to as chubby, cozy, and cute, what intrigued me most was the descriptor “neotenic”: a scientific term that refers to a retention of childlike traits in adults. 

Is this new aesthetic a result of our cultural obsession with youth? A yearning for comfort in a tumultuous economic and political era?  Through an examination of this trend, its manifestations, historical connections, and modern culture, I sought to answer the question: why did this trend emerge now, and what does it say about the culture that created it? Watch below.