February 2006 / For the Love of Design


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The month that contains Valentine’s Day is the month to celebrate our love of design! January was overflowing with tradeshows and the Trendease Team was right there to get the scoop covering trend forums, lifestyle shifts, new products, shapes, colors, motifs, buzzwords, materials, hot topics, and more to keep you abreast of what you need to know for 2006/07 and beyond to stay on top of this uber competitive market.

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Features and Articles

Jennifer's February Fables '06

Paris — In this column Jennifer’s “fables” (short narratives making an edifying or cautionary point) get straight to the point of what is happening in terms of lifestyle shifts and what has emerged from the Trendease Teams’ recent adventures and explorations during the January exhibition month. If you want to be on top of the trends this is a MUST READ to get the scoop and the skinny that cut through the BS to what really matters.

5am: Returning from the party, careful not to wake the parents

Trend Time

Paris — At the first tradeshow of the year Salon du Meuble de Paris created the Trend Guide, 11 ‘houses’ found on the exhibition floor showcasing the hippest product offerings available at the show. The trend project was based on the socio-cultural factors and technological evolutions of lifestyles as well as the broader shifts in creation today. Come in and experience 24 hours in the life of a house decorated with the hottest designs.

Dynamic in Plastic

Frankfurt — Consumers have all fostered preferences for materials that reflect their individual tastes and styles. This acknowledgment paves way for the trends for 2006/07 where four different material types characterize Heimtextil’s four trend themes. In this gallery on "Dynamic in Plastic" brush up on the trends, explore the displays, learn the new buzzwords, and view new textiles.

Elegance in Textile

Frankfurt — Consumers have all fostered preferences for materials that reflect their individual tastes and styles. This acknowledgment paves way for the trends for 2006/07 where four different material types characterize Heimtextil’s four trend themes. In this gallery on “Elegance in Textile” brush up on the trends, explore the displays, learn the new buzzwords, and view new textiles.

Emotions in Wood

Frankfurt — Consumers have all fostered preferences for materials that reflect their individual tastes and styles. This acknowledgment paves way for the trends for 2006/07 where four different material types characterize Heimtextil’s four trend themes. In this gallery on “Emotions in Wood” brush up on the trends, explore the displays, learn the new buzzwords, and view new textiles.

Reflections in Metal

Frankfurt — Consumers have all fostered preferences for materials that reflect their individual tastes and styles. This acknowledgment paves way for the trends for 2006/07 where four different material types characterize Heimtextil’s four trend themes. In this gallery on “Reflections in Metal” brush up on the trends, explore the displays, learn the new buzzwords, and view new textiles.

Storytelling

Cologne — Retail buyers, interior designers and decorators, and home fashion aficionados alike, catch the summary of the “Storytelling” trend here, as identified at imm cologne by their Trendboard of international experts. View some product examples and learn the catchphrases, colors, motifs, details, and shapes that coincide with this theme.

Technique Nature

Cologne — Retail buyers, interior designers and decorators, and home fashion aficionados alike, catch the summary of the “Technique Nature” trend here, as identified at imm cologne by their Trendboard of international experts. View some product examples and learn the catchphrases, colors, motifs, details, and shapes that coincide with this theme.

The New New

Cologne — Retail buyers, interior designers and decorators, and home fashion aficionados alike, catch the summary of the “The New New” trend here, as identified at imm cologne by their Trendboard of international experts. View some product examples and learn the catchphrases, colors, motifs, details, and shapes that coincide with this theme.

New Rituals

Cologne — Retail buyers, interior designers and decorators, and home fashion aficionados alike, catch the summary of the “New Rituals” trend here, as identified at imm cologne by their Trendboard of international experts. View some product examples and learn the catchphrases, colors, motifs, details, and shapes that coincide with this theme.

Atlantide

Paris — This trend may seem a bit familiar to you because as mentioned in Branches of the Sea and Jennifer’s November Notes, the large bodies of water that grace this planet are a great source of inspiration and energy. From the fire coral motif, colors, and decorative accents to glass ready-to-wear and ethereal sculptures and lighting, the lost paradise from the deep is rediscovered in this trend display at Maison&Objet.

On Route #4: Inflatable structure perfect for meditation

Sur la Route

Paris — EcoChic is slowly, but surely, reaching the mainstream. And it is not simply aesthetically pleasing, ecologically friendly products, but mobility is picking up too. And it is not just college students or recent graduates moving into new apartments trying to get a grasp on adult life location after location, but the ageing Baby Boomers are more mobile than any senior demographic we have known before. Maison&Objet has reenacted this trend in 5 lifestyle vignettes.

Women are a growing part of the DIY market--why not design products with them in mind?

Cités Radieuses

Paris — This trend story plays right into what has been seen across a variety of lifestyle research and various trade exhibitions. Similar to Modern Vintage, New Rituals, Storytelling, Futurustic, Historique Hysterique, and Space Age Rustic, we are looking to the past to grasp onto something comfortable and familiar while at the same time giving it a slight twist to fit in with our modern-day living. Maison&Objet incorporates new products into this trend.

"Noir et Or"

New Talent: Beautiful Anachronisms

Maiche — The last two issues of Trendease have been discussing the Modern Vintage trend to a great extent; afterall, this is one of the biggest emerging trends seen today. So it seemed only appropriate that this month’s new talent feature is right in step with this movement. Modern Vintage has been called many things, ETC créations refers to its collections as “neo-retro”, and that is just what they are, new and different while taking inspiration from history. The designs are not only beautiful anachronisms, but functional art.

EcoChic: Tradeshows are Talking

Worldwide — Consumer buying habits are shifting in a new direction as 78% of consumers are paying attention to the quality of the products they buy. There is a new awareness emerging and focusing on an ethical dimension to consumption—this is demonstrated in the fact that many of the tradeshows Trendease attends are seeing increased EcoChic exhibitors and trend displays. Read on for more tidbits, buzzwords and quotes.

The fire coral trend is hot!

A ‘SweItalian’ Taste Tour

Stockholm — While Gusto Store aims to touch, move and combine all of their shoppers’ senses into one, they are successful in doing so with both unique experiences and products of the highest quality. Where lifestyle and design play more and more an interrelated role, be sure to explore this retail feature to satisfy the appetite for eye-pleasing aesthetics with a worldly background and a focus on contemporary lifestyles.

NEWSLETTER #108

Paris — This week’s gallery is a review of the “top picks” that were displayed at the Planète Meuble (Salon du Meuble’s new competition). We also share with you the tips that three professionals offered to retailers who attended the show, and while some of them seem quite obvious, there are many shops, small and large, for the thrifty and big spenders, that should be reviewing this list, checking it twice, and finding out whether their store is naughty or nice.

NEWSLETTER #109

Frankfurt — Hallå from frosty Stockholm! While we are still in the midst of exploring the furniture fair here, in the last week we have covered Premiere Classe, Who’s Next and Prêt à Porter in Paris. May the inspiration never stop! This week’s photo gallery is a review of the top tabletop textile designs seen in Frankfurt by Gunnar Frank. Also catch up with the latest tidbits.

Flocked ceramic home accessories

NEWSLETTER #110

Multiple European Cities — Flock that! This week’s gallery looks at the progress of a material. Not only is flock getting the designer treatment, nowadays it is machine washable, dishwasher safe, food safe and microwave resistant! In this newsletter also read up on sensorial awareness, the continuation of Futurustic, and find EcoChic inspiration.

NEWSLETTER #111

London — In this week’s photo gallery subscribers can get their retail fix and see some of the most inspirational window displays and how some of the trends have panned out at the consumer level. Love is in the air as spring and wedding displays overflow with garments, crystal, silver, china, gifts, stationery, accessories, textiles and furnishings. Also read this week’s tidbits on designs selling in hotels and paisley housewares.