Do not walk on this carpet!

We make carpets designs graphic "carpets" with the most ordinary everyday things like pasta and plastic forks. Take a look at their work on their blog - it's great fun!

Throwing away years of beautiful excess - the "green" alternative

As I contemplate upgrading my computer, my office is still bulging at the seams, years after so much information has been placed online. How can that be? I have a collection of catalogs that are exquisitely designed with gorgeous images on top quality paper stock, and I just couldn't bear to part with them. As I spend more time with my avocation - photography, I need to make room and out these magazines and catalogs must go.

I think that part of the reason I hate to part with this bounty is that I know that the era of excess is "so" over. We will never see this quantity or quality of marketing materials again. It may even be valuable some day, but who has the room to store it all? I will miss it, but as with clothing - if I haven't looked at it in two years, it has to go. With my clothes - dropped off at Goodwill, I "imagine" they have an afterlife. With this printed material, the best afterlife I can hope for is newspaper stock.

In my cleaning frenzy, I found a green statement for ARPA USA that I wrote long before the exaggerations of the scientific community plying us with propaganda was discovered. It turned out not to be the propaganda that changed the world, but the economy. So here is the statment, more valid today than ever:

"The word “green” is on the tip of every tongue these days, the entire world wants to be eco-sensitive, but what they mean by “green” is complex and not at all clear - there are no common meanings or uniform standards within or across industries. “Global warming” has already been replaced by the phrase “climate change” because there is so much conflicting information. Yet, we know with certainty that our overburdened land fills, air quality, water scarcity, and energy costs must be addressed now. We can agree to the fact that we must preserve natural resources, avoid toxic emissions, and use materials that are durable and low maintenance. The entire construction industry has a major impact on environmental issues and ARPA considers the environmental impact in every new product development and manufacturing decision.

No one wants to “harm” the planet or leave a polluted and unlivable environment for future generations, so North America, seen as both the land of plenty and at the same time wasteful by the rest of the world, is finally doing some serious thinking about the real effects of their choices on the future of the planet. Environmental issues have always been different in Europe, with a higher population density throughout the continent - land, water and energy were always scarce and a heightened concern for air quality has been critical to the health of the entire population. ARPA was founded in this environment, so from its beginnings had a discipline and strong commitment to sustainability and resource efficiency. ARPA continually eliminates waste and makes improvements in raw material selection, manufacturing processes, packaging, and transportation. At the same time, equal consideration is given to the safety and sustainability of the product for the end-user.

In creating a green building the specifier and end-user also bear some responsibility. They must select appropriate materials and methods to minimize the overall environmental impact. How durable should the product be? How long will it be in use? What are the budget considerations? Does it affect the indoor air quality? How will it be maintained? What happens after its useful life? The wrong material choices can have considerable environmental impact. Tearing down a 10,000 square foot building instead of refurbishing it will cancel out the environmental saving of recycling millions of liquid containers. It is important to compare comprehensive life-cycle data in assessing a material for use in a particular setting.

The green building movement is just beginning to build a database of the life-cycle environmental impact of different materials and ARPA is one of the few manufacturers that have created an environmental profile for their products. Some natural materials appear to be green, while man-made materials are often overlooked - yet when comparing their life cycle costs, the resource-extraction and processing may make a natural material much less earth-friendly than a man-made material that can be used in its place.

The responsibility of building a more sustainable future falls equally on us all, and ARPA will continue to do their part in the future as they have in the past."

The consumer and his brain

Last year it was orange juice cartons, this year it was The Gap's new logo that laid a total goose egg with both the graphic arts community and consumers. There was much discussion and analysis over the proposed but never implemented new logo, with my favorite being the "New Scientist's" discussion of the neurological best practices that Gap broke with their new design. I only wish I could have been as articulate as this article or had these facts available when first seeing a new - which could only be described as awkward - logo a previous employer did implement many eons ago.

Color WOW

Canon Pixma: Bringing colour to life from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

If either color or photography fascinate you as much as they do me and you have a deep pockets promotional budget, then this video explaining Canon's new ad campaign will interest you. Delight in color is universal, and our neutral interior spaces, no doubt, are largely influenced by the prolific colors available in our media and devices. Everything that I see, points to this as a continuing trend. Without question, the challenge for finishes is to both stay neutral and be interesting enough to engage the design community and consumer.

Still too many choices!

It is the nature of design centers to offer lots and lots of choices, but I have to ask myself, at what point does it become too much? Recently I was in the Boston Design Center waiting to go to a presentation and looking for inspiration in a showroom. I have to admit, that I couldn't even get myself to pull back the racks, even the brochures of the Fall 2010 introductions couldn't entice me - until I saw the William Yeoward Aranjasa Collection - a refreshingly casual collection of stripes in subtle classic colors inspired by Spain, Norway and Sweden. The color palette and lifestyle photographs in the brochure are what drew my attention.

Did it make me smile because it reinforced one of my trend themes or because it was a beautiful fit for New England interiors? I suspect a little if both, and I will remember it for future projects, with my mind uncluttered by the racks of thousands of fabrics that I didn't bother to even take a look at.

This particular collection may have just touched on my personal taste, but I can't help but think that at least 3/4 of the products in any showroom are superfluous, and that even designers would welcome some type of editing. So many companies are reluctant to discontinue even the most outdated of products. I wonder whether anyone does the accounting on this? Design Centers are not retail stores, but all that excess stuff is confusing to customers that are used to the spare editing of a Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel. No one wants a fabric or tile showroom to look like these stores or a Home Depot, but being customer friendly is a win-win for all.

Interesting pespective on Materials

Vegans aside, who knew that the designer Christien Meindertsma has created such an interesting take on materials. Her perspective on the "pig" in PIG 0 5049 takes us to material use both in and beyond the built environment. I was hesitant to even look at this video until I realized that her crocheted rug was a part of my recent trend report. This thoughtful, creative and charming designer speaks to us with an interesting voice and her vision is one to watch in the future.

Market insights are now critical

Academic jargon aside, pay close attention to the McDonald's story in the Wharton marketing professor George Day's conversation about his recent book Strategy from the Outside In: Profiting from Customer Value. This conversation is timely, since in recessionary periods, the easy fixes are not as effective as in growth periods. It may seem obvious, but my past experience tells me that this topic needs constant reintroduction. I spent years with pressure to add more outlets to reach that monthly bottom line, rather than the entire management team taking a systemic look at what might create real growth. According to the article in Knowledge @ Wharton, Professor Day's research, the "outside in" approach to marketing is as rare as ever - an idea whose time comes again and again - renewed in every business cycle.

Conversation or noise?

I just attended a informative presentation on "social media" at the Boston Design Center given by the VP of Marketing for Kravet. (Kravet blog) Design fabric houses live in an extremely competitive environment, so I understand their engagement with social media; they are large enough to have a dedicated social media specialist on staff. While, as a blogger, I fully understand that social media is here is stay and will continue to be a more and more important part of every business conversation, I am not sure where the conversation begins and the noise ends. At this point, I perceive Twitter as noise . . . I truly don't get it . . . but the presenter and the panel of young designers spoke it its effectiveness. I suspect we are dealing with a generation gap here.

What is important, no matter who your customer, is not to let a conversation go on about you without you. So, if you are being talked about, be sure to get in on the conversation.

What I can report is the the doyenne's of the profession seated in the front row as well as the "young turks" were all dressed entirely in black. I have been going to this Design Center regularly since it opened and have never seen such a sea of black on the design community in Boston. (New York, always) Is this recession Black? I suspect I am reading this correctly, and that it means continued a traditional color palette in all things home furnishings as well.

Visualizing Color

This month's Wilsonart blog reminded me of my favorite places in New York - the Kremer Pigment store. They have a delightful collection of images on their website: Colors of Nature that communicate the essence of color and help their customers "see" the colors of the pigment collection in context. What a charming marketing tool!

Finding a bargain feels as good as sex

I am sure this headline gets readers, but who doesn't love a good bargain?

The Return of Wisdom and Common Sense

I don't know exactly when wisdom, in academic lingo, and common sense, from my perspective, left our culture. However, I can pinpoint exactly the moment I became aware of it - it was the day someone stood up in a national sales meeting and defined "Total Quality" for all the "dummies" in attendance. Shocked at the time, I had no idea what to make of this concept, which appeared to be common sense to me. Little did I know that things would go downhill from there. The culmination of these ideas was the use of "Six Sigma" for new product development in yet another company.

And now we are legislating for "dummies" as well, instead of encouraging common sense and rewarding wisdom, we are passing a plethora of unnecessary laws - but that is a merely personal musing - outside this blog conversation. It is happening more and more as this recession continues and there is less to take note of concerning the built environment.

Barry Schwartz inspired me with his book, "The Paradox of Choice" and now he is once again in the forefront of bringing wisdom back to its proper place in our culture with this short lecture. A fiasco like the Wall Street meltdown could have been mitigated or avoided if more people had acted on principles of practical wisdom, Barry Schwartz argues. Here he gives diagnosis and prescription for a society that has, in part, lost touch with wisdom.

There are more small signs that wisdom is returning. 3M, the company that both survives and thrives, on new product innovation is featured in an article in Forbes,"3M's Innovation Revival" and mentions how the executive brought in from GE had reduced their sales of new product from 30% to 21% overall in the year's that he ran the company with his heavy emphasis on "Six Sigma." Like ex-GE executives in building materials, his fixes were all short term. George Buckley, the new chairman and CEO has returned new products to their rightful place - back up to 30%. A wise man indeed!

Fashion, Finishes and Art

Fashion Week has moved uptown and is now held at Lincoln Center instead of in a temporary tent. At the first Fashion Week to be held there, no one captured fashion as performance "art" better than Catherine Malandrino and Couture Snob captured the images. Her collection is also featured as wearable art on a Wall Street Journal blog.

What is even more intriguing is the article in the WSJ "Fashion as Art," where Virginia Postrel has an interesting take on the matter: "Fashion is shedding its cultural stigma. It is increasingly recognized as a significant cultural activity—indeed, one of the defining characteristics of our civilization." That all sounds very noble, but what I see happening is the business has co-opted the concept of design with all the incessant talk of "design-thinking." So what are designers to do but designate themselves as ARTISTS.

And this connection to art is not lost on those that intent to stay trend forward in fashion end of the home furnishings business as well. Silestone, the countertop surface manufacturer is sponsoring an exhibition opening this week at the Museum of Modern Art entitled: Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen.(Fast Company's design blog has a story and some great pictures from the show.)

Lessons from Trader Joe's continued . . .

For me, it was love at first sight - that first time that I walked into a Trader Joe's store. I truly couldn't understand the gentleman that attended one of my presentations and took offense at my suggestion that there were lessons to be learned for our industry from this charming little food emporium. My main point was that the proliferation of product choices was overwhelming the consumer and that all retailers had to become "choice editors" for their customers in the future.

Not much is know about the inside working of what has become a food giant, but the current issue of Fortune tells the story of their success as best as they can determine from sources other than the company itself. The big reveal is that Stonyfield makes their yogurt, but you have probably already figured that out if you have purchased both products. They sell double the number of dollars per square foot as Whole Foods, their nearest in-kind competitor - so who wouldn't want to take tips from Trader Joe's?

Aging in place or on Wheels?

Will "Baby boomers' lifelong affair with all things motorized" affect the future sales of home related items?

Some anecdotal evidence shows that fulfilling the lifelong dreams of wheels trumps real estate. I suspect there is a gender divide here, but the article in the Miami Herald goes to great lengths to feature woman motorcycle, RV and sports car owners to convince us that this is more than the fulfillment of males fantasies. There are still more women planning their jewel box retirement homes than buying Harley's, but my guess is there will be extra large temperature controlled garages included.

The World of Wacky Ideas

Crowne Plaza Hotels in the UK are installing grass floors in conference rooms "to spur creativity."

And file this related quote under specious research: Angela Whitlock, author of Walk on the Grass, said: "Research has shown that by the age of 25, as much as 98% of our creativity has vanished."

TheLady GaGa Era

As both a boomer and a marketer, I am endlessly fascinated by Lady GaGa. She is a creature of the times, as surely as Madonna is of her and Michael Jackson was of his respective era. Some of her outfits are an example of the "geometry" trend observed in building material aesthetics that I incorporated in my 2010 trend report. According to the New York Times, today's youth of the City are totally engrossed with her image and likeness. The rest of the country should follow suite, Lady GaGa senses the tenor of the times, not just in her music, but in her dress and staging as well.

Opportunity for Surfaces?

In the 80's jetted tubs were all the rage, according to an article in the UK newspaper, the Telegraph, not so much these days. This leaves opportunities for products designed for shower areas. However, in the new age of luxury, everyone has to compete with Apple and Sony for the consumer dollar according to an article in USA Today. (I would add some other names like Samsung and Toshiba to that short list.) As we all become even more addicted to our electronics, the available dollars are going to those products. We would rather escape into these products and the virtual worlds rather than worry about our physical surroundings. It will take targeted marketing efforts to focus consumers attention back to their living environments and away from the virtual realm.

Can the Million Dollar Bathtub be far behind?

Harrod's, the London luxury department store, offers a 530,000 Pound bathtub - that is currency, not weight. The rock crystal tub is offered by Florentine luxury furnishings group Baldi. Baldi offers luxury products especially designed for those who do not consider discretion a virtue.

I can't think of a single trend that this exemplifies, other than the one about being talked about at all costs - and we all know that works if you are willing to pay the price.

Social Networking raises Oxytocin

We know that "if businesses wish to thrive in our interconnected world, where consumers' opinions spread at the speed of light, they must act as a trusted friend: create quality products, market them honestly, emphasize customer care." To find out why this is so, read "Social Networking Affects Brains Like Falling in Love" in July's Fast Company.

Futures Thinking vs. Design Thinking

Core 77 offers an excellent article on Futures Thinking vs. Design Thinking and how they work in concert. "How can Futures Thinking Amplify Design Thinking."

TEDxCalgary - Michael Drew - Pendulum

No matter how much time you allow yourself for trend-watching, this video with a critical story to tell marketers is a must-see. This acclaimed Pendulum presentation tells us exactly where we are on the pendulum at present and then examines how entrepreneurs and thought leaders can capitalize on society's alternating cycles of civic and idealistic attitudes.

More Levering of Brands

As I just got back from an extended trip, I have been paying closer attention to my emails from Shutterfly.com - as creating one of their books is my favorite momento of trips and events. Today's email amused me to no end, they announced that in concert with Clairol's Root Touch-up a new root touch-up tool is available on their site. You could even try it out. Tres amusant! . . . and good marketing for both parties.

KBIS 2010/ As if 2008 didn't happen

I didn't make it to KBIS this year, but judging by the New York Times assessment in their story "A Sea of Bliss," I saw everything three years ago. I thought the industry had finally stopped focusing on all those multiple shower-heads, but according to the article they appear to have made a return this year. So much for water conservation!

Of course, it is also possible that this is the writer's first attendance at the show and she was overwhelmed by all the spouting water. In home furnishing trends - just as in politics, it is important to consider the source and draw your own conclusions.

"Green Builder" Home of the Year

An article on Treehugger.com explains why the Zeta Communities Net Zero Energy Urban Prefab may just be the modular home manufacturer that survives. Winner of Green Builder's 2009 Home of the Year, Treehugger suggests: "These guys are building what appears to be well designed, relatively conventional modular housing with off-the-shelf technologies, with what appears to be the financial backing to make it through this recession and position itself for the recovery."

Sincerely "Green"

I remember how disappointed I was at the 2008 Greenbuild that so few booths displayed the spirit of sustainability - I got a serious "greenwashing" vibe after attending the show. (The Antron booth was the exception.)

Designer Joey Roth really gets it though . . . he arrived at a recent New York International Gift Fair with a sketch pad, saw and hammer and made his booth from the scraps of the other attendees. Now that is what I call the proper spirit of the movement.

OH DEER!

I keep running into validations of my trend report, but none amuse me nearly as much as a little coda I added about deer themes. They just keep appearing!

I find the wildlife collages that artist Jason LaFerrera makes out of old maps both amusing and lovely. They are available on etsy.

Moving towards the Middle

According to an article in Furniture Today, Rachel Ashwell of the popular Shabby Chic brand. . . "also believes the recession has rekindled a spiritual quest to 'get back to the basics, the core values, family, things that people think are important. I think that people are appreciating products that have style and long-lastingness. They're reaching out for stuff they can pass on to their children.' "

Her new lower priced upholstery line and case goods appear to be a move to the middle of the market - down from her now bankrupt couture stores and upscale from the products still available at Target. Miles Talbott is offering the upholstery in the new line and Guildmaster is offering case goods.

It remains to be seen whether this portends a return to that long forgotten middle in all things home furnishings?

Virtual Milan III - The Brutal Vessel

With the help of Google, I came across at least three different versions of this brutal, rough and earthy look in vessels being show at Milan. Made of various composite materials that always seemed to include resin, I'm not sure of the statement this trend is making, but this young designer wants us to "focus on simplicity and confront our views of modern civilization."

This series is individually sand cast by dutch design studio sjoerd jonkers. As opposed to the vessels in the previous post, this anthropological look does not make me want to touch, and that may just be the point?? At the end of the day, except for people that are terminally trendy, we prefer to live with beautiful things.

Virtual Milan II -Beauty of the Natural

Design can be thoughtful, natural and beautiful as are the vessels made of a bio-composite of flour, agricultural waste and limestone. The tactility of these classically-shaped vessels is visceral even just seeing the images on screen. These vessels from Formafantasma offer a hint to the colors that we will find comfortable in our interior environments moving forward - the limestone palette is moving to even softer warm neutrals with just a hint of delicate natural color.

Formafantasma showed at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, which seems to be the venue for the hottest looks at the fair - it goes to the top of the list for the next real trip to Milan.

Salon del Mobile - Virtually

I spent some time this afternoon at the Milan Furniture Fair - virtually that is. I found much of the "much hyped" contemporary furniture to be "more of the same." I comfort myself in knowing that virtually I don't have to travel through the miles of corridors of bad Italian stuff that is necessary when you are there in person - but I'm not sure that makes up for missing the dinners in wonderful out of the way places outside of Milan proper. The most interesting thing that I found was the current issue of "The David Report" and I include a quote from that to make us stop and think and put the design business into perspective:

"Why can’t products be allowed to collect memories like
good leather chair, why don’t we accept the patina of
usage like a loved skateboard, when will we accept aging
as life’s rich story, like a prized broach our grandmother
left us, or the lines of our grand father’s face, of a life
well lived!

Whilst our perceived redemption has been our recent
passion for sustainability and energy efficiency, this has
come from the expense of surplus, and for the majority
who remain in a state of abundant denial. We have to
face the fact, that as with climate change, we are at a
tipping point when the equilibrium is lost, and like our
current economic crisis, the currency of good design is
devalued by a tsunami of rapid change when everything
good or bad is submerged and becomes equally contaminated
and loses its relevance."

He too, questions the sheer volume of new chair designs that are annually created for this fair and others around the world. Can our creative energies be better spent?

Robi Renzi shows us how - he has captured the spirit of the times in the above design called Armadiature made of salvaged parts and shown at an exhibition space at the fair. See more images and close-ups at Mocoloco.

The Milan fair has become so important that even the Wall Street Journal has their say on what is hot at the fair this year.

Leveraging Brand

I have often wondered why more simpatico brands did not get together in their promotional efforts, as "W" Hotels and Design Miami/Basel announced today at Salon del Mobile in Milan. Such a perfect pairing should be advantageous for both parties.

What is Sustainable?

The site: Treehugger features the eclectic Dutch design firm droog's offering at Salone del Mobile. Their presentations have often seemed simply "odd" to me, but this I get - with the thought that "there is enough stuff in the world already" they collected left-overs and created something new with what they discovered to offer for sale at the fair. droog blogs from Milan during the fair.

I totally concur with droog, there is enough stuff in the world. I was often asked when I left the corporate world why I didn't go into business "selling stuff." My response was always "there is enough stuff," I would rather help those already in business further develop and sell what is rather than create more stuff or yet another store front. Of course, that didn't stop others from opening more and more store fronts thinking the boom would never end - many of these spaces now empty shells.

On a related topic, Art Basel in Miami showed photography in one of these empty, dark and cavernous spaces, the show was depressing after having shown in tents with great natural lighting in previous years - but, I guess that is a form of adaptive reuse. Another show used an old factory, again with great natural clerestory lighting - to me a much more appealing venue for art than empty mall space. Natural lighting - much better for showing product and green as well.

Story is your differentiator

Today, consumer expect both great aesthetics and excellent quality from your products- so neither can be counted on to separate you from your competitors. In the light of strong product offering, story and brand have become more important, that is why I created a presentation for Coverings in 2009 entitled "What is your Story?" Recently I came across an interesting white paper that reinforces the need for an authentic story to support your business and brand in today's marketplace: Authentic Brands Live Their Story! Does Yours?

The Wisdom of Crowds

Like anything else the media hypes - the incessant chatter of Twitter is driving me bonkers. I am sure at the end of the day, some usefulness will come of the latest internet obsession, but not yet - certainly not yet for our industry. I was directed to a site called Trendsmap which bills itself as "Real-time Twitter trends," to find that people were tweeting about the Kardasians - SO not interesting to me. Obviously, the show was on and the younger generation expects to be interactive with their media and Twitter is how they interact??? So looking at how to engage your customer is important for every industry, even if Twitter is not the venue at this point.

In these travels through the internet, I did find an interesting new idea that marries tweeting with the "wiki" concept. An engineer in Finland has created a way to capture the wisdom of crowds that can be immediately useful. TrendWiki "engages your networks to study problems of interest and communicates the results to the decision makers and experts." Watch Elina Hiltunen explain her program at the European Futurists Conference Lucerne 2009.

Color draws Customers

In product development, we talk about "color" all the time - even if we are talking about hundreds of variations on beige. An article on ABC news gives us just a little history on the consumers' interest in color:

"In the early 1980s, the Gap became the first major retailer to show clothes folded on tables, not hangers, to show people the colors"

Now we know, we owe our color awareness to the GAP and our own ability to manipulate color on our computers adds to this awareness everyday. But, what is more important is the fact that the Gap uses color to draw customers into the store to buy their most important product - jeans. Jeans are mainly variations on a shade with slight variety in shape. Reminds me of our industry... yes - variations on beige sell just like jeans, but you have to draw attention to your offering in someway because everyone offers the same beiges. As Gap shows, carefully selected and featured color is a powerful tool to do just that.

Cloud Computing begets "Cloud Design" ...???

It's a stretch...a rather tenuous connection, but Interni has a feature called Designing Clouds in their March issue. The Italian tile manufacturer Caselgrande is celebrating their 50th anniversary with a "Ceramic Cloud" designed by the Japanese designer, Kengo Kuma. Or...is this design's preparation for THE END heralded to come in 2012 by an assortment of fanatics?

From the Casalgrande website: "The first event is the “Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud”, a combination of architecture and land art, designed by Kengo Kuma and made by Casalgrande Padana, under an agreement with the Municipality of Casalgrande. The work, the first one to be made by the great Japanese architect in Italy, is well under way and will be finished before next summer.

Set in a communal green area of over 2,8000 square metres, the installation is located on the new Strada Pedemontana next to the company’s production site, with such spectacular landmark acting as the Eastern Gate to the regional ceramic district.

The work is an unusual three-dimensional construction that experiments with innovative applications of the latest-generation ceramic units. Entirely made of special, large glazed stoneware tiles mechanically anchored to a specially-designed metal frame, the construction is over 40 metres large and 7 metres high and looks like an architectural object of refined elegance intended to symbolically mark a traditional productive region which is deeply bonded to the culture of design."

Immerse yourself in pictures

Tracking trends is all about filling up that hard drive with impressions and one of the ways I have discovered is to "watch" the pages of Interni magazine flip by. Since I don't speak or read Italian, I let the images intrigue me and they are stunning. I have way too many bookmarks on my computer to track, so these pages keep me up to date - so that I can factor in the influence of the Euro-sector on our marketplace.

What about that bottom shelf?

I was in a grocery store this week (not my preferred store) and noticed that they had relegated plain mayonnaise to the very bottom shelf. Now I assume that everyone buys this product, and from its new placement I have to assume that the various salad dressings placed directly above it are more profitable for the store. But for me it was irritating, in that I had to find someone to ask where they put the "stuff."

New Scientist in an article titled: Mind over matter? How your body does your thinking actually has a much better explanation for my irritation. Our body movements affect how we think, and looking down has been correlated with negative emotions.

If I read this article correctly, if you are still showing product on a low shelf, you should move it up fast! Those stores that use the bottom shelves for storage and leave all consumer goods at eye level, now have proof that they have intuitively done the right thing.

Yes indeed, it seems that finding my favorite mayonnaise on the bottom shelf put me in a bad mood. I never liked that store anyway!

How the Trends Manifest

Creators of products do read trend reports, but as a product development consultant, I know that few sit around and say to themselves - "What can we do that is trendy." We all absorb the reports, but what is more important is that we absorb the zeitgeist that manifests in the greater culture.

I called one of the trends in my report HYPER-AUTHENTIC and this trend obviously follows across product categories. Being authentic to a vision, a concept or the greater culture is truly critical to success these days. The movie "The Green Zone" manifests that trend well by hiring real solders to play the movie roles. Other than for documentaries and extras, hiring non-actors is an entirely new idea that truly fits the zeitgeist and the reviews reward the second highest grossing film in the recent time period with this important label: AUTHENTIC.

Sherwin-Williams top-ranked brand

The interior finish world is a wide-reaching but fragmented industry, so it was fascinating to see one of our own in the Interbrand top 50 leading brands. Sherwin Williams came in at # 28, which is quite a feat during the recent economic downturn, but paint is a quick and inexpensive pick-up for any interior space.

Ranking were based on:

• financial performance
• consumer brand preference surveys and
  
• brand strength

As a follower of interior finishes in the marketplace, I have been continuously impressed by Sherwin Williams targeted marketing to the design trade. Their "Color Snap®" app were one of the first iphone apps in the industry.They achieved this rating as a singular product with their biggest competitors being mass merchants Home Depot at #4 and Lowe's at #12. In today's market, all the major paint companies make amazing marketing efforts, but congratulations goes to Sherwin-Williams for showing up so high on the Interbrand list.

Watching trends develop

As a coda to my trend report, I took note of the increased sightings of deer and antler motifs and asked the question whether it was a coincidence or a trend. Within weeks of finishing the report Jean Charles de Castelbajac’s answered my question. He chose Bambi as the theme for his fall-winter 2010 fashion show in Paris. Trend indicators are everywhere, if you take the time to observe the culture that surrounds both the world at large and your own product. For more on Paris fashion week, check out the New York Times blog.

Remodeling activity rising

My recent anecdotal conversation about the increase in home remodeling has been confirmed by an article in the Wall Street Journal. The Journal reports that people are staying put and remodeling instead of trading up. They say that architects are seeing a 16% increase in interest in remodeling of kitchens and baths. How this "interest" will translate is anyone's guess, but a kitchen designer told me the other day that there was a substantial uptick in business over last year. However, people are spending roughly half of what they were during the boom times.

Today's homeowner is much more practical than the recent past - with little interest in indulgent luxuries, they are looking for recycling centers, larger pantries and renewable materials. Material properties are getting much closer scrutiny than in the past, consumers are looking for products that will last rather than what is the "trend of the moment."

Inspiration from Memory

Who wouldn't want to hire the Hanger Design Group for all their design needs after seeing their website? Designboom.com introduced me to this firm in a posting about the firm's latest prefab mobile homes. Hanger's website presents their firm's offering in an interesting, informative and interconnected way. (Do however, turn off the sound - they obviously have no "ear" on their staff.)

Hanger's exquisite "Joshua Tree" design for the mobile home is a reminder that design inspiration comes from memory, and that in order to sell - design in all areas of endeavor must make some connection to the familiar. The inspiration page of the website follows our "memory" of transportable homes from the tepee to the Airstream to Hanger's current design.

Each culture has its own memory, but is there anyone in that was schooled in the Western culture that did not draw a house that looked something like this when they were in the first grade? The Airstream may be iconic, the flat tin can mobile homes ubiquitous, but this simple outline holds memory in the Western canon.

Is the cult of celebrity finally over?

The headline in yesterday's Wall Street Journal reads: Ditching Designers to Sell the Clothes. They report that some fashion houses, like Diesel, are dispensing with the idea of a single designer creating product lines and handing more design with anonymous teams. Mr. Rosso, the head of Diesel, believes his brands need trend-spotters more than someone who can craft a hemline. After all, clothes must sell after the runway show is over.

Martha Steward took a hit with her behavior, but the economy helped her recover. Tiger Woods will not be as lucky - it seems the era of celebrity is winding down from the boom times. Kim Yu-Na, the ice skating princess, deserves every bit of her celebrity, but I was fascinated that the designer of her exquisite gold medal-winning costume was no where to be found. It seems she is one of the unsung designers of a Montreal maker of ice skating outfits. It was a full week after the gold medal skate that Josiane Lamond's name even appeared on the internet.

I keep sensing the need for a renewed focus on traditional sales techniques in the marketplace, rather than hoping that an association with celebrity will do the job for you.

Boomers continuing economic impact

According to a recent McKinsey&Company report aging boomers will continue their economic dominance of the economy for this entire decade.

Corporate Marketing that elicits smiles

Yes, as a photographer, I admit to being biased, despite that - I find that the Thonet 150th Anniversary photography contest is a brilliant stroke of marketing. Thonet created both a focus on their most famous product and engaged their customers at the same time. This is crowd-sourcing at its best.

As an icon, the design community is well aware of the "Thonet chair," yet everyone can use an occasional memory jog and this contest does the trick. Each of the winning photographs of this classic chair is nothing short of charming - as daily hectic life becomes more and more devoid of that quality, we enjoy the little snippets of charm that we find and happily remember.

Video's power of storytelling

We are all addicted to our various screens, going to the movies is a popular pastime throughout the world and advertising on television has always been used to sell product. Now our industry has a powerful new medium - the video as source for educating, entertaining and selling product.

Midwest Living designed a kitchen and bath for empty nesters for last year's NKBA show that featured a variety of finishes and materials. Neither the magazine nor the space itself is as effective as the designer telling the story in the video that is featured on the Kohler site. This informative story-telling is much more effective than a straight-forward sales pitch.

Latex could silence noisy neighbours

Latex could silence noisy neighbours - tech - 22 February 2010 - New Scientist

Voice of the Consumer in the Fashion World

Young designers embrace the blogosphere according to an article on Reuters: "the blogosphere offers a voice to new opinions and a platform for the start-up brands themselves." Traditional fashion houses are following, but they are not used to listening to the consumer directly, preferring the conversation with buyers - fashion insiders.

The direct and unfiltered conversation with the end-user should be welcomed by manufacturers and retailers in every industry. The key will be interpreting the information, staying open-minded and bringing creativity to the process of making it useful.

How to engage the Luxury Consumer

In a recent conversation with several real estate agents, they reported that the luxury market for homes remains strong, but affordable homes continue languishing on the market.

"Beauty in Virtue" is timely with its update on how the luxury market appeals to their customer base. After a tough economic climate for all in 2009, luxury goods purveyors are starting to remember who they are and what they stand for other than blatant consumerism. They make their customers feel good by setting them apart with their products but reduce the guilt of luxury spending by allowing them to "give back." Particularly the venerable patrician brands understand that it is their "duty" to give back and encourage the same in their customers.

A Lesson in Selling Luxury

The New York Times reports that: "in 2009, sales of wines priced at $25 and above dropped 30 percent nationwide." That would explain why Trader Joe's now sells excellent Reserve wines under their own label.

The article investigates what the wineries are doing to survive: "Try the Red: Napa Learns to Sell." Winemakers that have traditionally concentrated on making the very best wines, are now learning that a robust sales focus is becoming a requirement in the struggle to survive in this economy.

Like every other product on the market, a certain quality and sophistication of product is now a given...the emphasis is now on marketing and sales.

Consumer perception vs environmental realities

New Scientist has a fascinating interactive chart on consumer perception vs. the environmental realities of companies in various sectors of the economy. Some companies seem to be good at marketing what is not reality, and others are missing an opportunity.

Presentation is Paramount

Exactly 4 days after I discovered the video of Alexander McQueen's crazy Spring-Summer 2010 fashion show he committed suicide. Fashion week in New York was upon us, and his death made everyone pay even more attention than usual to fashion. Now we can all have front row seats online at the biannual fashion shows, and I have to admit to indulging in some of them.

While I know that Calvin Klein is a true minimalist, I love his home fashions, but I found it interesting that I just couldn't be bothered to sit through his fashion show. It was so minimalist, there was not even music to distract from the "fashion" - just the tap, tap, tapping of feet. And the clothes were so austere, they could even be updated nun's habits.

The contrast with the McQueen show cannot be overstated, the Calvin Klein show reminded me of the Audi ad at the Super Bowl - taking oneself too seriously is not good business in the current economic climate when offering luxury goods. Offering a little fantasy is not a bad thing - so sad that McQueen is no longer around to invite us into his fantasies - bizarre as they were...but we paid attention and wanted a small piece of it!

Cheap plastic/Well designed too!

A few years ago, I replaced my cheap plastic colander with a classic metal one, while it is attractive, I never use it. It is clunky, heavy and awkward to use. Now the old cheap plastic one is so beat up that I am afraid that it harbors germs. In my recent trip to Target, I found a solution - another cheap plastic one that also happens to be beautiful.

It really doesn't take that much to delight me and I found this simple threesome of colanders designed by Michael Graves to be just delightful. There are truly few things these days that are this inexpensive, functional and attractive at the same time. As I have said before, companies that I have worked for in the past do not believe in making inexpensive things beautiful. Seeing this on my counter is a simple pleasure that puts a smile on my face, and anyone involved with interior finish products would do well to ask themselves: Do my products put a smile on my customers' faces?

Of course, it could just be that in the dead of the New England winter, the fresh grass green makes me think of spring and warmer weather hopefully to come soon.

Design Influences for fashion and home

Not having seen the last screen on the video, I rushed to the nearest Target store to the see the "Liberty of London" Collection. You can imagine my disappointment when it was not yet in the store. I was anxious to see it because I noted in my trend report that influences were leading to classic designs, floral patterns and oversize scale. The Liberty store is always one of my first stops on any trip to London This is how the producing agency describes this collection on the youtube.com site: "Outrageously intricate Liberty patterns are featured on the fashion and home décor or inside the garden, becoming truly iconic through the use of oversized scale and giving the viewer a look at the products in a uniquely modern way."

My trip was not wasted, a trip to Targee is always an object lesson in design. The cheap-looking bizarre Goth remnants of the Rodarte collection were in evidence on various racks - this collection was certainly no replacement for the successful and on-target Isaac Mizrahi Collection. In his collection of several years ago, Mizrahi took simple tees and gave them a neckline that took them out of the ordinary - mading them fresh and special. Each of his pieces updated classics with a simple tweak. That is good design for the Target market - as a matter-of-fact that is a philosophy that works for any market. Most consumers don't want to look like those oddballs coming down the runway, nor do they want to look as dowdy as this week's killer professor.

The Rodarte Collection rather reminded me of the baby collection that Philippe Starck designed for Target several years ago - just simply wrong. There is more to the design process than simply hiring a "big name" and thinking that is enough, the consumer is amazingly design savvy these days...yes, that includes the Target customer. I predict that the Liberty of London Collection will be successful because it beautifully taps into today's zeitgeist.

New Operating System for the 21st Century

Good bye to the carrot and stick approach to all but the simplest work taste. In this TED talk Daniel Pink makes a strong scientific case for intrinsic, not extrinsic motivation in the workplace. As our society moves from brawn to brain work, from repetitive to creative work, employers will be wise to pay attention.

Food for Thought

I'm getting a really slow start into this new year, but I recently found some inspiration. Seth Godin, the innovator, writer, and blogger, invited 70 other innovators, writers, and bloggers to share in a project he called What Matters Now. Each selected a single word to riff on - it really got me going! Above is one of my favorite pages.

What to do when headlines and facts don't match

We all want to put the most positive light on the current economic climate, but does it serve a purpose or only serve to confuse us all? There are many who think the continued weak conditions are brought on by the air of uncertainty that exists throughout the economy.

A recent Kitchen and Bath Industry house organ's headline reads "Recovery in the Air as 2009 Comes to Close" while their own projections for 2010 on the same page show 2010 to be down a further approx. $1.5B from 2009 in small print.

Until economic signals from credible sources are more clear, the uncertainty will continue to stalemate the economy.

Revisiting with Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi

It is the new year, and after being reminded of Massimo Vignelli, I am taking the time to revisit with all the people that have had an impact on my own thinking in the past.

One of those people is Kevin Roberts, the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi. I heard him speak about his company's "Lovemarks" at a branding conference a few year's ago. He had his finger on the pulse of the consumer then, as he does now in an interview about his current thinking. He especially understands our "relationships" and the ever expanding one that we have with our family of screens.

What is most important is how he see sustainability, not as a grand expensive government-run scheme, but something that each of us can embrace by doing one thing at a time. He introduces Saachi's latest campaign DOT - do one thing in this short interview which introduces Kevin Roberts sensible and down-to-earth approach to creating a "better world."

How long does it take for design ideas to travel?

Like anything else in life, the travel of design ideas and products can be rather serendipitous. Luck, timing and the right alignment of people play a great part. I revisited this thought because I just ran into my favorite product that I discovered in the Passagen section of Design Week in Cologne in the winter of 2002 on 3rings a contemporary product blog for design and architecture. The original designed by Tilo Gnausch, that I saw in a gallery was shown free-floating directly against a mirror. The "Ammonite" sink is indeed a magnificent piece of sculpture, I’m surprised it took this long to make it across the pond.

The sink is made of concrete and distributed by Bagno Sasso. In Cologne, the original design was in basalt and was paired with a simple but stunning basalt shower. While the sink took 8 years to be noticed in the American market, basalt became an important interior finish material within just a few years. Currently, the sink is also available in what appears to be Blue Jura Limestone, but it is hard to tell from the pictures. Actually it is not clear to me that it is even available, as the supplier is Swiss - maybe someone just saw a picture of it and wanted to blog about it.

Basalt took off here within 2-3 years, but the sink - I still don't have an answer to my own question of "How long?"

Confusing Messages at the Builder Show

Peter Miller, president of Restore Media, the folks that bring us the Traditional Building Exhibition and Conference and a roster of magazines on restoration reports on this year's International Builders' Show on his website. He learned that consumers "want smaller, urban, energy-efficient homes. They want them well appointed and within walking distance to work, schools, shops and restaurants. They want houses in close-in neighborhoods. And while they crave new technologies, especially work-at-home connectivity, they prefer houses 'like the one their grandmother lived in.'"

He has an interesting, realistic and dispassionate take on the show that is well worth reading. He concludes with the thought that, "The 'reset button' is on. We are all trying to figure out what to do next amidst the conflicting, often contradictory advice we get from the experts. We start a new decade as uncertain as the last. We are afraid because we do not know what's next or what to do about it."

Designing for Sustainability

I ran across a video of Massimo Vignelli giving a presentation in the Heller showroom, sad to say, it was difficult to understand Mr. Vignelli, but I was reminded of the time he gave a presentation at the Cooper Hewitt Museum and the audience didn't care what he said - we were so mesmerized by his charm. He is of course a designer's designer, but what is most impressive about his work is how well it has stood up over the years. He embodies the true spirit of sustainability.

Think American Airlines and Knoll branding and the brochures for our National Parks - his work is both lasting and has lasting impact on our visual landscape. He shares his personal vision of design in a book The Vignelli Canon which is available to read online.

He shares concepts so appropriate for our current economic climate:
"We are definitively against any fashion of design
and any design fashion. We despise the culture of
obsolescence, the culture of waste, the cult of the
ephemeral. We detest the demand of temporary
solutions, the waste of energies and capital for the
sake of novelty.
We are for a Design that lasts, that responds to
people’s needs and to people’s wants. We are
for a Design that is committed to a society that
demands long lasting values. A society that earns
the benefit of commodities and deserves respect
and integrity."

Storytelling Wins and Culture Matters

The lovable geeks at Google win the ad Superbowl with their simple, charming and timeless story. At a time when all the fake science on "global warming is coming to light, the ever-so earnest Germans are ever-so tone deaf with their "green" Audi ad. Culture matters, and the Superbowl is about fun and escape from our everyday woes - no one wants to be reminded about the "plastic bag police" in the middle of their relaxation time. So another year has closed on the most innovative advertising that we will probably see all year. The men in skivvies amused, but really! ...And it wouldn't be the Superbowl without the heartwarming Clydesdale team or the crowd-sourced Doritos ads.

At the end of the day, what we remember most are the stories that engage and entertain us; in the time of global commerce, some stories are universal but getting the local culture right matters more than ever before.

Is this the future of product presentation?

Obviously with intent to shock, Alexander McQueen sent his Spring 2010 fashions down the runway with models in hoofs and hair contorted into antlers as complements to the skimpy dresses fashioned of shimmery reptilian prints. According to the designer, the look was to appear optimistically futuristic, but to me it was oddly ugly and depressing. As expected, the fashion press gushed over the hideous looks, the emperor's nakedness would have been an improvement. The youtube followers were admiring as well. Much more interesting were the comments on the Huffington Post, they were realistic and in line with what I would expect.

This is where the fun begins, the uncomplimentary Huffington Post comment pages (all 5 of them) were full of ads for Alexander McQueen products. This would never happen in the mainstream press - they serve only to compliment their current or future advertisers - snarkiness when allowed is only allowed as comic relief. On the internet, no one knows the difference - so there is both advertising revenue and straightforward public opinion. What a fun concept, but will it last?

But, it is the presentation that is so spectacular here and will be influential across all product marketing that has even a whiff of fashion attached to it. This was truly (what we called in the sixties) a happening the day it was put on and continues to be that on the internet both with commentary and without.

What's Next?

If your business has survived the recent economic bust you have excellent systems in place and the competitors that did not survive allow you to pursue a bigger piece of the pie. But with the almost total bust in housing starts that will not be enough – you must be in tune with the spirit of the times. Like fashion, interior finishes must respond to short-term trends while remaining attractive over the long term at the same time.

Despite the recent up tick in GDP, in the last year, everything has changed – especially how the consumer looks at the world. There is the obvious move towards value at every consumer level; caution will continue to prevail. In the past you could simply anchor your offerings with a top of the line item and people would comfortably drop down to what was still a luxury priced item. This marketing technique is no longer valid today.

Trend reports are snapshots that look at all aspects of the influences in order to give you the lay of the land that will influence purchases, there are no mysteries in these influences nor do I offer 10 magic trends or 4 esoteric concepts. When this economy does turn around, it will be gingerly with that cautious, maybe even a little scared customer that still continues to have needs and wants. Even designers are reporting that their clients are afraid to do anything other than to paint their walls “near white.” Resale value is foremost in the consumer’s mind at this time. But that begs the question: Must I do more than offer the basics to get through these economic times?

You must, simply because tomorrow’s customer comes to you with a new set of expectations and constraints. You must take a look into that unknown in order to thrive.

This report will look at what lies on the horizon – what will influence the end user of interior finishes. Three of the trends are simple common sense ideas – not new –but they are newly important moving forward, and will manifest just a little differently than they have in the past. The 4^th trend is the emphasis on geometry – the aesthetic perspective on technology. You may not have to focus on this in product offering, but it is a way to stay in tune with the designer market and is a trend that can be used in marketing across your entire customer base so that you present a fresh and on-trend look.

At Coverings in 2006, I discussed the proliferation of choices and the need for product editing - that is even truer today. The iPhone has 140,000 apps, but the average phone has installed only 5 and uses less than that. At what point do you trust the crowd-sourcing of your past sales and when do you move your product mix forward? The simple concepts presented in this report are universal, rather than specific and designed to help guide you in that quiet reflective moment when you ask yourself: “What’s next?”

The report is almost finished, so let me know if you wish to be on the distribution list.