My crystal ball has lately been energized, feeling the need to make a prediction…..

Groundless it may be (at this point), but here goes:

Video games for xbox, wii and playstation.

IPhone stuff.

Plasma TV’s.

And, handcrafts. In particular fleece throws, scarves, hats, mittens. Fleece. We will all be warm this Christmas.

How do I know these things? Well, the electronic stuff is nearly a given; and with plasma tv’s on sale at the lowest prices of the century, everyone should be getting one. Now is the time. So, that seems like a given to me as well.

Nielsen did some online buzz tracking and their stats mirror pretty much what I’ve just said. Check here for actual numbers.

As for the handcrafts….the New York Times just did an article on how well craft stores seem to be doing for the season with people preferring to make their own stuff or even buying handcrafted items and why not? With the gild totally off the lily for stuff coming out of China…we have been saturated with poorly made representations of the real stuff. It’s a need I think the populace in general has.

Something real. Something from the heart and not the fabrications we have been being fed for so long, no one knows any longer what their real worth is.

For me 2008 was a search for the authentic…and for 2009, it will be a search for Rockwell. My nostalgia for all things American has gotten to me. Perhaps because we are so much in danger of losing it all.

My trip to Barnes and Noble revealed a similar kind of nostalgia…books on local interest (here, St. Louis), the Clydesdales, an actual book called In Search of Rockwell and Peppermint Mocha Hot Chocolate.

With that in mind, I hope you have a very merry Christmas for all of you who are believers, and to everyone a very happy new year. May 2009 bring with it all the hope we have put into it.

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This is something I expect to see more and more of if the world is paying attention especially to designers such as Janet Fernandez. Her work makes you feel as if you are holding something one of a kind in your hand…..oh wait, you are.

Janet’s studio, J.A. Design Studio, is based in Miami but her inspiration lies somewhere between there, Sweden, where she was born and raised, and Italy, where she lived for 20 years before coming to the United States in 1995. So imagine all of that influence hand painted onto your tablecloth and matching napkins (although each piece is hand painted so will be slightly different than the next), cushions and draperies….or whatever you want as you can also buy her linens by the yard.

Janet personally designs all the patterns and then paints them onto textiles herself. The products she creates are very exclusive because she hand mixes all her colors and also customizes the color of any of her patterns to match J.A. Design Studio’s clients’ needs. Also, all of their products are made with the finest 100% European linen (Belgium) and 100% silk taffeta (given it’s Beijing time, I couldn’t resist posting her painted Chinese symbol silk taffeta cushion above).

For more information visit her website, jadesignstudio.net, or call 305-858-2883. Too gorgeous!

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I don’t usually read InStyle any more, but the August issue held some unique tipping points, such as Rhianna’s tatoos which are some of the most alluring and well done I’ve seen to date.

That’s not to say there is anything wrong with the other type, but Rhianna gives us chickens (those who have yet to committ to getting one) some designs that allow for a certain amount of rebellion and discretion at the same time.

There are other methods now too if you don’t actually want to have your skin permanently altered by getting a real tatoo; clothing now exists to give an impression of some really heavy duty tatoos (this is interesting), Ed Hardy apparel for one, and Sleeves Clothing for another; but perhaps the most telling sign that tatoos have gone mainstream and has options is in the crafts section of Wal-Mart. You can get tatoo art to put on your skin that will of course wash off.

Where to go from here? Transfers to fabric so you can do your own style of tatoo clothing (we need the paints for that too)…I’m just sayin’.

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“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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“Going Green” gets better and better every day. The more I investigate what’s out there, who is doing what and how it is done, the cooler and more functional the category becomes.

This latest find is from artist Rachel Austin brought to me by Mochipopstar through Treehugger through Liana Kabel’s tupperware dress (see below). “Mill Plain, - the name is from a location on the map layered under this painting, has a thick, waxy look to it. Size is 5″ x 5″ x 2″. Boxy wood frame made from reclaimed pallet wood.” Trouble is, right now I can’t locate this actual piece any longer. Her artwork is still available on little pocket mirrors sold through heyprettycupcake on etsy.com though.

As soon as I locate Rachel and find out about this reclaimed pallet wood project, you’ll be the second to know.

Oh, hey, found it! Locate Rachel Austin here. Let me know how it goes. And for further information specifically about the map projects on reclaimed pallet wood go here.

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>From “Cool Green Stuff” and Treehugger, comes Liana Kabel…in true fashion, just as recycled tupperware that’s all. Made with tupperware lids and 2000 jumprings, Liana says she was more concerned with it looking good on display than wearing it…i.e., “don’t sit down in it and definitely wear a slip.”

I thought I’d compare this to Marko’s post on Paco Rabanne just to show you how things can, uh, evolve. So, maybe you just make it shorter, and yes, wear the slip, or make with a sheath, and voila! it’s wearable fashion.

Keep it comin’, Liana.

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