Jarring with the bare concrete facades of brutalism, or the glassy utilitarian molochs dominating the business districts of major capitals, Milinki’s images have an undeniably minimalist appealing, combining futuristic shapes and ideas whilst garnering sympathy from that part of us which so fondly remembers the past. 

So, how can it be that something is at once retro and futuristic? With Milinski’s scenes, it’s perhaps to do with his muted colour palette - its nostalgic pastel hues, evocative of a hazy dream, a place that is recognisable, yet to which you’ve never really been. 

A lot of Instagram pages have found popularity recently as purveyors of this neon-drenched, 80s and 90s Miami-esque lifestyle. These were happier, simpler, more free times. Ironically, considering how we’re now exposed to them - it was a time without the constant gaze of a phone camera. As such, there’s an associative tranquillity that emanates from the things that draw inspiration from this time.

By tapping into this, Milinski has imbued the past with his own sharp eye for design, much more indebted to his contemporary - or even futuristic - sensibility. By weaving in a natural narrative, trees growing in corridors you wouldn’t expect them to, or ivy climbing up perfectly flat walls, the past becomes enriched once more with new depth, adding a palpable sense of organic life to a home.

These homes are so appealing because they’re so beautifully rendered in such a starkly warm and inviting minimalism. Enough of the designer’s own ideas and taste come through, but there’s also ample space left for the audience to impart some of their own ideas. Like all great art - it gives you a feeling. Milinski’s dreamscapes invoke the same giddy butterflies you’d feel as a child thinking about the dream treehouse you could build. 

Each of his works begins with a sketch, underpinned with a keen idealism that combines architecture, ecology and the will to imagine what a balanced approach to designing living spaces should look like. Although the built may seem to be the centre-stage in many of Milinki’s works - it’s actually just a backdrop. Nature “is the building and the building is the feature wall. Where leaking light through leaves becomes nature’s disco ball. Places where all living things are seen as equal and where human elements conform to the environment.”

Modern architectural design and urban planning are at a crux, wandering aimlessly around a crossroad with no street signs. Down one lane is the traditional, another the contemporary utilitarian. As for the other two, it could be a multitude of options ranging from a greater focus on nature, all the way to a return to brutalism. Some are undoubtedly trends, others are pertinent questions. One thing’s for certain, it’s rare that anybody, or any place, has gotten the balance as close to utopia as Milinski.