“Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting” originally showing at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City the first half of 2007 is now a traveling exhibit with available dates (in case you are interested) but showing first at the Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana April-August 2008.

The trend for craft to get kicked up a notch by artists using such traditional crafts as knitting and crochet to “explore new relationships between structure, design, color, and pattern, and using the materials and techniques to examine pressing contemporary issues that range from international politics and global problems to concerns of gender, race, and religion” is happening at the same time popular interest in knitting, lace making, and crocheting is at an all time high.

But, don’t confuse this exhibit with traditional uses: the installations are exactly as the title states, radical and subversive. Visit Museum of Arts & Design traveling exhibitions for more specific information on the installations and artists and more imagery, plus exhibit availability and throw open those craft drawers to see what points you can make.

1st image, Hildur Bjarnadóttir Untitled (skulls), 1999 Crocheted cotton yarn, wood table 5 x 136 x 136 cm (4 x 54 x 54”)

2nd image, Cat Mazza’s Knitoscope is computer software that translates video images into “knitted” images to educate about sweatshop labor.

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Color Palettes and what the color trends are for 2009, 2010, and beyond is a hot topic right now among design and product development professionals round the world.

I’ve come across something that defies a color palette trend per se….the trend is more like asking the question, “How shall we define color?” and then coming up with an answer. That is what Melbourne-based artist Samantha Parsons did by coming up with the “Book Screen,” (above image) a room divider made from vintage hardback book covers that span the chromatic scale. For enquiries on how to purchase this, contact www.formatfurniture.com, or you can email me and I will be happy to give you the sales managers direct email address. Parsons has hit on two solid ideas…..crafting a room divider that is useful as well as artful, and using a color palette that doesn’t end the color question but begins it.

You decide, and let me know what you’re questions are. The lines are now open.

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It came up as a solution to the flu that seems to be sweeping continents right now, wear gas masks to filter the air. Then I read where atheletes want to wear them or something like them, air pollution masks, while competing in the Olympics in Beijing this summer because of how bad the air is over there. So when I ran across this while perusing Craft Magazine’s blog, costumecon Proboscian sippy mask, made by sculptor Jennifer Maestre known for her pencil sculptures, I knew I’d discovered something.

According to Jennifer:

“This mosquito-isk (ick) mask is made of coiled, sewn, polyester horsehair braid.
One cool thing about this mask- it has a drinking tube up the proboscis. Nothing stinks more than having to remove your face each time you’d like a sip of something tasty at a party! Plus, it looks wicked pissah, watching red wine run up the tube.”

Check her site to see more variations on the mask….especially the one that shows how it glows in the dark.

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Lots of fab patchwork prints have come across my desk of late. All too good not to share. You’ll see what I mean. It makes you want to go to the nearest flea market and pick up a hodge podge of textiles and cut and sew away and voila! You’ve got yourself one of the coolest coverlets in the dorm, in the neighborhood, in your life. Check these out and tell me it doesn’t create a call to action.

From the style files. Shared Space is a project that Dutch designer Bertjan Pot did for Tent and Witte de With. Tent and Witte De With are two art foundations and exhibition spaces that share a building in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In between their offices they have one mutual room of which they both have the right to use but up recently it didn’t really have a function. They invited Pot to come up with a use for it. Together with Frank Bruggeman he made it part office and part living room. For the living room part Bertjan created the extra large sofa which is filled with beanbag material and covers made out of a patchwork of fabrics he collected over the past few years. The secondhand carpet got an extra pattern of colored stripes made by melting colored duct-tape into it.

From Bloesm. Patchwork curtains, patchwork blankets, patchwork pillows…Marlies Spaan from the Netherlands creates these great items for your home. Have a look here at MeS.

From stye-files. Uono’s handmade bedspreads (top image) are unique. The very best geometric and abstract vintage 60s and 70s scarves are collected for the first side - each scarf is like an abstract painting. On the flip side is a solid-tone or tone-on-tone 100% hemp for a totally reversible bedspread. The hemp is a subtle, mod tone of palest sage/khaki green and works well with both traditional and modernist decor. Visit Uno’s website and/or Etsy shop for more information and to see all their beautiful designs. They also have a great pillow collection!

Even Urban Outfitters has gotten onto the craze.

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After grappling with how to say Happy New Year to Everyone, this is what I decided on: a sneak peek to my 2009-2010 top trends, as I see it, and as a way to help wrap up 08 depending on where you are in your buying, your product launches, your presentations, or your strategy planning.

1. Color Cornucopia: Eye Candy for the Color Maven’s Soul. Image from John Galliano for Dior Haute Couture Spring 08 Collection. Seattlepi.com.

2. Mother Earth Beats Her Chest: Science Popular.

“An armada of robot submarines and marine sensors are to be deployed across the Atlantic, from Florida to the Canary Islands, to provide early warning that the Gulf Stream might be failing, an event that would trigger cataclysmic freezing in Britain for decades.” Meric Srokosz of the Southampton Oceanographic Centre, explaining the purpose of the $31 million Rapid Watch system he is heading up, does just that, citing the plotline of “The Day After Tomorrow” - specifically the collapse of the Gulf Stream - as a potential occurrence that warrants further investigation. From Treehugger.com and The Observer.

3. Finishing Touches Birth Special Effects. Photo Yohji Yamamoto, Mens FW 08, Style.com.

4. High Tech High Touch in Living Breathing Action. Image from Nau.com’s trademark “webfronts,” which is their idea of recognizing how the internet has changed consumer’s buying behavior.

5. Cross Marketing/Collaborations in Unlikely Places/Partners Creating Phenomenal Hybrids. From Designspotter and Globus by Michiel Van der Kley.

These are but a few of the macro trends I allude to during my strategy sessions or across the year in trend newsletters, reports and product development/programming strategy sessions.

Let me know if you have questions about how the above references might effect your planning for 08-2010, any initiatives that Trendbites publisher, the kimbro agency, may help you support in ‘08 and/or if you’d like to subscribe to any number of Trendbites’ sister, Trendcites (rhymes with bites!), publications.

We do trend newsletters, customized trend reports, product development strategizing and implementation, marketing consulting,
color palettes and by request only, show reports.

You can reach me by email at kim@trendcites.com.

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