The man who would eventually be described by Carl Linnaeus as the "greatest natural botanist in the world” began his lifelong study of plants for a surprising reason: John Bartram had dreamed of becoming a doctor, but he was born in Pennsylvania in 1699, where the first medical school (the College of Philadelphia) wouldn’t be established until 1765. With a passion for science and acres of unspoiled wilderness around him, he followed his curiosity and became an expert on North American plants, transforming the culture of gardening on both sides of the Atlantic in the process.

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In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic enrolled us all in a curious domestic experiment: working and learning from home and deprived of the opportunity to travel or dine out, our homes became our entire worlds. And we’ve asked a lot of them: living spaces have become ad hoc offices, and we’ve learned to curate appealing backdrops for all our digital meetings, arranging plants and objects just-so. Because we’re out in the world less, our homes have taken an unexpected star turn. All of this nesting, from cooking and gardening to the resurgence of needlepointing and cross-stitch, has steered the entire design world in a very domestic direction, and its impact on trends, taste, and the marketplace will be felt for the foreseeable future. We asked a group of experts for their insights about what we can expect from 2021 and beyond. Even after a post-pandemic return to “normal,” how will our experience of this time shape our built environment and behavior?

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