product development | Consumer & Design Trend Forecasting

Flooring Design Trends – The UK ‘Flooring Show’ 2018

Posted on October 15, 2018October 15, 2018 by Phil

During September, our Laura Greenwood brought to life her ideas for an inspirational ‘Trend Hub’ and trend display at the Flooring Show in Harrogate (in the UK), Laura was joined by Laura Trowsdale (confusing?) to ensure that the constant flow of visitors could all have their trend questions answered. Of course, many of those questions were about what would be the key colours of 2019, which patterns would be in-fashion for flooring; but other questions were about materials of the future, retail store design and even one about Exhibition stand design (we liked that one!) …

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A Design Trend for Spring Summer 2018 communicating an ‘Easy Optimism’

Posted on May 16, 2018May 16, 2018 by Phil

The sun relentlessly beats down on me as I write this post, most of us (people) are enjoying the 3rd mini-heatwave of the year; it’s hard to keep in mind that it’s only Tuesday and a work-day. Everything about today is screaming chill, relax, eat, drink, smile, enjoy and do all of this outdoors. I’m doing my best to comply, after all nature’s driving influence today has reminded me about my favorite design trend for the SS2018 and compelled me to share it with you.

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Consumer Trends you should be aware of from TISE 2018…

Posted on February 28, 2018May 7, 2018 by Laura Greenwood

The International Surfaces Event in Las Vegas is the one place to be for all stone, tile and floor covering professionals. We were delighted to be a part of the design and curation of The Design + Installation Showcase Hub AKA The DISH; with hands-on live demonstrations, inspiring trends and educational talks. Incase you missed the show… here is a preview of ‘The DISH’ and the theme behind our design.

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An Uplifting Color Palette for Interiors Spring Summer 2018

Posted on January 29, 2018March 28, 2018 by Phil

The Spring/Summer season of 2018 will see the emergence of our trend Urban Planet, which has perhaps my favorite color palette for the year. It doesn’t contain my favorite color, but as a collection of colors it’s hard to beat.

The Urban Planet palette has a real pick-me-up look to it, a happy feel. This maybe because it’s essentially a story of metallics and they are always a favorite. Metallics have been are ever present and it seems fitting that they should now have their own trend for this summer season.

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How to increase Sales, Profits & Shareholder Value

Posted on January 6, 2018March 20, 2018 by Phil

Mention Trend Forecasting to most people and the majority are unsure what it’s about; and those that have heard of it, well they mostly associate it with color forecasting.

In reality, there are very few business tools/support services available that, if used well, will improve your company’s results quite so much and in a sustainable way. The more broadly that Trend Intelligence is integrated into a company’s business strategy, the greater the improvements will be. Uplift can be achieved in production efficiency, sales revenues & profits increase, creativity, PR success, product ranges can be smaller, the number of ‘slow-moving lines’ reduces and overall relative costs go down. All this because insights & Intelligence about future consumer and design trends for the interiors sector can ensure your product & service developments match the wants, needs & desires of your customers. Ultimately leading to better profits and more shareholder value.

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Plastic Pollution; The heart-breaking reality

Posted on November 21, 2017May 9, 2018 by Laura Greenwood

The Time Is Now…

For those of you who watched the BBC’s Blue Planet II you will understand why we feel strongly about raising this issue on our blog once again. Sir David Attenborough’s documentary movingly highlighted the growing problem of ocean waste. The episode investigated the detrimental effects that plastics have on the health of our oceans. They pulled on the heart strings of viewers by showing a whale carrying its dead newborn around – killed by human activity in relation to the chemicals found in plastic waste.

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