Mark Van Dop is an owner of a contracting company that focuses on custom renovations for high-end clients. He draws on knowledge of decorating styles to tailor each project. While modern and contemporary styles seem similar, they refer to different aesthetics. Modern design emerged from a reaction against decorative styles before the industrial revolution, emphasizing straight lines, minimalism, and use of materials like steel and glass. Contemporary design has grown from modern styles but incorporates softer curves, unusual shapes, natural materials like wood and stone, and large windows connecting indoor and outdoor spaces. Contemporary may change in meaning as trends develop further.

2.  Mark Van Dop, owner of Markright
Contracting, focuses on performing custom
renovations for high-end clients. Mark Van Dop
draws on an in-depth knowledge of
decorating styles to tailor each project to the
client's needs.
While the terms “modern” and
“contemporary” both call up images of an up-
to-date style, they in fact refer to two very
different aesthetics. Like the modern art
movement, the modern design trend arose in
reaction to the decorative flourishes of the
Western world before the Industrial Revolution.

3.  Striving to rid itself of ornate detail and
intensive use of texture, modern design
turned instead to straight lines and the use
of industrial-inspired concrete, steel, and
glass. Modern design emphasizes
minimalism and utilitarianism and eschews
clutter in the form of throw pillows,
knickknacks, and other “extras.”
Contemporary design, by contrast, refers
specifically to design trends of the present
day.

4.  Because it has grown out of modern design, it
also features clean lines and plenty of space,
but it has also incorporated softer curves and
unusual architectural shapes. Contemporary
design has also become associated with the
use of natural elements such as wood and
stone, and often includes large windows to
connect the interior with the exterior. Some
experts suggest that as trends develop,
“contemporary” will change in meaning and
the current contemporary style will have a new
name.