On the trail of trends

ZOW trend scout Lidewij Edelkoort presents her projections for the future to suppliers

[Frankfurt am Main, November 19, 2014] Around thirty decision-makers from the supply industry were provided with an exclusive insight into the future of the furniture sector on 12th November: As part of the trend forecast seminar in Frankfurt am Main, trend scout Lidewij Edelkoort presented some initial findings of her trend research to suppliers and designers, which will be showcased on the trend_works exhibition space at the forthcoming ZOW - the international fair for suppliers to the furniture and interior design industries. In her seminar, Edelkoort also addressed the issue of the origination process of trends. "The development of one single tendency into a trend is always an evolutionary process. Many ideas originate from the heart of society since they originate in our heads", states Edelkoort. Horst Rudolph, Director of events organiser "Clarion Events Deutschland" also highlighted the role played by ZOW tying in with this process. "For exhibitors and trade visitors, the fair serves both as an orientation guide and as a basis for the development of innovative product solutions."

In her function as trend scout, Edelkoort has been attending the world's leading design and furniture fairs for ZOW. In the seminar the Dutch expert selected some important initial developments based on her research activities, which will have an impact on the furniture and interior design market in the seasons to come. "As a supplier, the seminar provided me with a great deal of input which we can make use of for our company since Lidewij Edelkoort brings together the various facets and changes in the design spectrum in a coherent manner," remarks Harald Klüh, Global Brand Manager of the company GRASS.

In addition to analyses, prognoses and proposals, the focus of the seminar was also on the concept of networking. The growing level of individualisation in serial production also requires greater dovetailing between the furniture industry and trend scouts, stresses Klüh: “State-of-the-art manufacturing methods and the wide variety of materials associated with such processes open up many possibilities to the industry in terms of product planning. For this reason, the collaboration with trend experts and designers is becoming increasingly important for us - particularly in order to follow those paths early on which still appear unconventional to us at the present time."

Inspiration and confirmation
At the same time, creative individuals also took advantage of this opportunity to obtain an insight into the research conducted by the trend expert. Among them was designer Adnan Serbest, who will be in charge of such a format at ZOW Istanbul 2015. "The findings of the trend forecast seminar are not only of significance for production but also for designers", explains Serbest. "Lidewij Edelkoort's research serves as both a source of inspiration and, moreover, also as confirmation: In the seminar, the participants were not only shown the direction in which design possibilities are moving. Edelkoort also demonstrated which elements we had evidently had a nose for prior to her forecast," says the Turkish designer.

Orkan Erhan, Director of the décor specialist Interprint in Istanbul, also comes to a similar conclusion. “We have set up our own team of trend scouts within our company, who - just like Edelkoort - attends diverse design and furniture fairs to capture the various developments. Many parallels came to light during this event", remarks Erhan.

The information and impressions of the trend scouting activities will be used as a basis to derive projections for the future, which will be presented at the exhibition space "ZOW trend_works" during the international fair for suppliers to the furniture and interior design industries in February next year. As a result thereof, exhibitors, designers as well as trade visitors will have the opportunity to find out about groundbreaking trends in the furniture industry and will be provided with a platform at ZOW in Bad Salzuflen on which to exchange their ideas and experiences.

Clarion Events can trace its roots back to 1947 and takes great pride in being one of the oldest independent event organisers in the UK. More recently the firm has developed an international portfolio of brands and now has interests in a number of global vertical industries.

Clarion Events Deutschland GmbH
Ms. Viola Hoffmann
Meisenstraße 94 | 33607 Bielefeld
GERMANY
T: +49 (0) 521 96533-67
E: viola.hoffmann@clarionevents.de
W: www.clarionevents.de

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This release was published on openPR.