June 2013 / A Decade of Design Research


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.

It is hard to believe that this month marks ten years since the company known as Trendease International was born. Time flies when you are having fun! Thank you for being part of our journey. We love any excuse to celebrate, but we will keep the big bash for when we mark the anniversary of the website launch. That won’t stop us from clinking together a few champagne glasses though! In this issue rejoice in the good times and get the scoop on the latest and greatest the design world has to offer in fashionable furnishings, textiles, wall and floor coverings, tabletop and accessories—even a luxury car or two! Get inspired with the June edition!

We attend over 100 design events a year on your behalf to bring you trend insights and design movements to help you maintain cutting-edge knowledge of the lifestyle and design markets. Currently we keep readers within 171 countries/territories in the know! Are you reading Trendease.com?

Show us what you’ve got! For editorial consideration please email editorial@trendease.com with your latest original designs. Upcoming Trendease Market Edge PowWows and Trendease.TV scheduling can be found on the homepage.

REPORTING TO INSPIRE,
Jennifer Castoldi,
Chief Creative Director

Download our informative tri-fold brochure as a PDF file here.

Features and Articles

Jennifer's June Journal

Multiple European Cities — As Jennifer puts together this month’s introduction she finds it hard to believe that a decade has passed since Trendease was born. We give thanks to those who have supported us and stood by us for ten years. A grander celebration will take place when we commemorate the anniversary of the website going live. Also inside, is a gallery of products: flip it, slide it, turn it, lift it, or hide behind it. Today’s furniture has some secrets it is unveiling.

Cartographic tables by Gus*

The Beginning of the End Table

Worldwide — The unspoken heroes of the living room are speaking up. Where would we be without a place to rest our coffee cups, books, remote controls, and midnight snacks? The end tables and coffee tables of the world may often go unnoticed, but their duty is paramount. Trekking through recent trade shows in Europe and America, the Trendease Team noticed that these guys are getting a makeover and calling some attention to themselves.

The Splotchy Look

Worldwide — When there is a company that has been passed down from one generation to the next, or a business that is not exactly known for breakthrough design (that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!), what does it take to break free from the norm and create something special? These companies know how to do it and they are achieving it with the new splotchy look, as we like to call it.

Inspired by the arts of Suminagashi and Ebru, emanating from Japan and Turkey respectively. Base: handmade cotton paper.

The Trickery of Wallcoverings

Worldwide — Trompe-l'œil is anything but a new concept for interiors. The artistic trickery was used as far back as the times of the Romans and Greeks, often giving the illusion of a room being much larger than it was. Still a popular technique for modern spaces, even urban sidewalks and facades of buildings under construction, this practice is taking to the walls in new manners as can be see here with nearly 30 examples taken from our design adventures across the globe.

House Warming Accents

Worldwide — Looking for the perfect attention-getter or attractive accent for the interior? What is gaining momentum in dwellings around the world? Gold, copper, brass, and bronze are strong metallics for the home in pearlized, polished, burnished, or muted finishes. Waste metals and post-industrial scraps encapsulated in resins and recyclable materials are growing in popularity.

Convergence in New York City

New York — Every May the international design scene gathers in the Big Apple to tempt the American market with its lip-licking style. Clever national designers and firms looking to find a place on the map will set themselves up with temporary real estate at the ICFF (international Contemporary Furniture Fair—which is a lot more than simply furniture!), Wanted Design, or a local showroom, perhaps even one of the pop-up exhibits. Enjoy 85 examples of noteworthy products and designs we discovered in the city that never sleeps.

Connect, Learn & Rethink

London — Clerkenwell Design Week started within the local creative community of architects, designers and media as a means to connect, learn and rethink. In its fourth year the event fulfilled its promise to catalyze the creative process. In conjunction with the showrooms in the vicinity, CDW also extends itself into unique buildings for pop-up exhibitions. From local to global, technical to handcrafted, enjoy this hand-picked selection of almost sixty product images.

‘Aura’ by Ailara Berdyyeva and Ki Duk Kim

New Talent: Interiors Influence Jaguar

London — Jaguar meets the world of interiors. It is intriguing to see how textiles and interior design are making their way to the conceptual and future design of automobiles. Jaguar, headline sponsor of Clerkenwell Design Week, partnered with masters students from Royal College of Art’s automobile and textile majors to envision the future design language of Jaguar. What will the future hold?

NEWSLETTER #438 - Meet the Flintstones

Multple European Cities — Are we returning to the Stone Age? Would Fred Flintstone win ‘interior of the year’? One of the latest upholstery trends may suggest just that! Was it the idea of Brad Pitt tucked away in a man cave somewhere that inspired more than men worldwide to let their stubble grow and let beards take the runway by storm? Did designers think, “yabba dabba doo!”?

NEWSLETTER #439 - Ice Cream Flavors

Worldwide — Jennifer writes, “Maybe it is because it is mid-June and my father just put the family boat in the water on the other side of the Atlantic, but the dominant colors in the collection of images within this week’s gallery remind me of ice creams flavors staring up at me from the cool, silvery barrels of milky goodness in the parlor of my childhood.” Subscribers can scoop it up here.

NEWSLETTER #440 - Maison&Objet Trends

Paris — This newsletter dives into an avant premiere of the trends and inspirations to be on display in September, developed by the Maison&Objet Observatory: Energies fall/winter 2013-14. Just when you start to know a trade show like the back of your hand, guess what happens? The organizers “improve” it and adapt to market shifts by changing the floor plans to suit the current marketplace. This means your beloved Maison&Objet will have an entirely new layout next time you enter the exhibition space in September.

NEWSLETTER #441 - Loops & Weaves

Multple European Cities — This week’s newsletter focuses on a selection of weaving and looping techniques found in the latest home furnishings. This method is discovered to be a fond choice for products which can be positioned in or outdoors using wood, rattan, plastic, steel, cording, and even upholstery. Subscribers can be twisted in every direction with this collection of goods.