January 2026 / Craft, Care, Material Intelligence


Located throughout the world, the Trendease Team continues to deliver our subscribers around the globe must-know market information and inspiration straight to their computer screens.

In this issue, we explore design as a living, responsive practice—one rooted in craft, care, and material intelligence. From biomimetic textiles to artists reinterpreting nature, the body, and neurodiversity through fiber, we also turn to urgent material futures, from circular foam alternatives to communal design experiences. Together, these stories reveal how contemporary creatives are reshaping sustainability and meaning through thoughtful making. Get inspired with the January edition!

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REPORTING TO INSPIRE,
Jennifer Castoldi,
Chief Creative Director

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Features and Articles

Jennifer's January Jots

Eindhoven — This diverse range of creatives use textiles to explore the body, neurodiversity, and lived experience. From a breathing soft sculpture to sensory-safe environments and intuitive tufted works, their practices transform softness into an expressive, political, and deeply human medium for connection and self-acceptance.

Upholstery the Earth Loves

London — Beyond Foam examines the hidden environmental cost of conventional polyurethane foam and introduces EcoLattice, a recyclable, 3D-printed lattice alternative. Developed by Yash Shah, EcoLattice offers adaptive comfort, circular design, and new creative possibilities, showcased through works by eight emerging designers reimagining comfort for a sustainable future.

Shaping the Future of Comfort

London — Extending the conversation sparked by Beyond Foam, the Foam Library presents a curated overview of emerging material solutions that challenge the dominance of conventional foam. Recognizing that no single innovation can resolve the global issue of foam waste, this gallery brings together a diverse range of scalable alternatives shaping the future of comfort.

Women&Design Innovation Award

Hong Kong — Elaine is a designer, artist, and technologist whose biomimetic, environmentally responsive textiles merge traditional craftsmanship with innovation, exploring ecology, emotion, and material storytelling. At the crossroads of science and poetry, subscribers can dive into her work and understand why she received a Women&Design Innovation Award.

Ancestral Techniques in Our Modern Era

Saint-Lunaire — This self-taught, Paris-born artist living in Brittany creates sculptural works using weaving, basketry, embroidery, and crochet. Combining natural and recycled materials, her practice blends ancestral craft techniques with a contemporary sensibility. Her practice reflects a modern vision of craft, a perfect example of keeping the past alive.

Ana's Interpretations of Nature

Marseille — This inspiring Colombian artist in Marseille explores nature through textile-based abstraction shaped by her background in anthropology and Amazonian craft traditions. Using natural materials and weaving, tapestry, and collage, her work evokes organic surfaces and textures, emphasizing the dialogue between raw nature and human, hand-made composition.

Dine in Design

Eindhoven — Tafelwerk at Dutch Design Week 2025, curated by Atelier Fig, combined design, art, and gastronomy in an immersive exhibition and pop-up restaurant. Set in Eindhoven’s Spoor K basement, it featured tactile tableware from Atelier Fig’s Fringe collection alongside collaborative works, inviting visitors to dine within a curated design environment.

Ahead of the Others

London/Eindhoven — At the intersection of life, material, and imagination, the works of Tompkins, Panz, and Jakovlev reveal the profound ways humans engage with the natural world through creative practice. Each artist explores the transformative potential of organic materials, weaving together narratives of growth, sustainability, and reflection.