product development | Consumer & Design Trend Forecasting

Christmas 2018 and New Year 2019

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Phil

Hello Friends, visitors, passers-by and even greetings to those who never come here; we think of you all, often.

This won’t be our last blog of the year, we’ve saved an excellent posting (our view only of course!) that we really hope you will all enjoy reading as you take a short break from your day, or evening with a drink of some kind that suits your mood. Victoria will post this later next week.

We wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We sincerely hope you have a wonderful time however you celebrate this holiday. If it isn’t a time of year that is a celebration for you, then we ask you to take a moment to celebrate our connection, our friendship, for which we thank everyone.

Have fun everyone and check back next week for our final story of 2018 and enjoy the read.

Love from Team SO.

Sneak Peek: 2019 Design Trend for Interiors ‘Radical’

Posted on November 21, 2018November 21, 2018 by Laura Greenwood

Here is a sneak peek of one of the trends we will be presenting at The International Surface Event taking place in the US in January next year. With the ongoing BREXIT battle taking place in the UK right now, along with heightened global unrest and widespread manipulation of populist politics we feel this trend is apt & worth sharing at this time with you, our readers …

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Design Trends – Color, Pattern, Texture & Material Detail

Posted on October 15, 2018October 26, 2018 by Phil

At the foot of this post we have included a short video with some valuable (we hope!) trend information.

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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