Li Edelkoort’s ever-popular three-hour presentations form part of the official programme for the Design Indaba’s 25th anniversary celebration. Her upcoming talks in Johannesburg and Cape Town take place in two parts, with the first half devoted to the green revolution, while the second half will focus on new directions for food and how this megatrend will shape us.
In the first part of the seminar, the globally renowned trend forecaster will analyse why green has become such an important movement today: “With the ecological green also comes an aesthetic green. Since brown is symbolic for the earth, it is only natural that green will start to grow from that current. The need for green is so powerful that it will turn around fashion and design without any doubt! Sprouting from different political, humanistic and survivalist sources, it is impossible to ignore.”
Green – both the colour and the concept – forms a pivotal part of Edelkoort’ssummer 2021 colour forecast. She reflects: “Maybe the most important thing about green is its capacity to bring joy. Its energy and charisma are compelling and will help us be, combatting despair with optimism and happiness: joy seen as another form of activism.”
Edelkoort’s message for the fashion industry is that we’ve reached the critical turning point and that sustainability is the only way for the industry to go forward.
The second part of her talk will look at the connection between design, objects, and the most influential of lifestyle elements, food. “Taste is driving every aspect of our lives from homes to hospitality, from food to fashion, and from make-up to materials. The largest megatrend on our planet today must be people’s fascination with food, which is taking over our spending and inspiring all other interests.”
During the seminar, she will explain how food continues to impact surfaces and interiors: “Indeed, kitchens are refurbished and enlarged, becoming the best place to be in the house, the room where everyone congregates to work, study, play and cook. Kitchen tools, tabletop design, pots and pans are conceived to better steam, roast, grill or bake foods that are organic, nomadic and authentic.
Fabrics play the game as well, with darker linens and printed motifs, as if designed for the sophisticated amateur chef. Fashion starts to play a role in the kitchen and aprons come co-ordinated with shirting and watches are designed for the exact measuring of minutes and the reading of seconds – essential for any successful cake or roast. All this adds up to new shapes for furniture, new textures for materials, new needs for architecture, and new adventures for the great outdoors - all impacted by the textures, flavours and colours that define what we eat.”
If you missed your annual and ever-essential dose of Edelkoort at this year’s Design Indaba, then relinquish the FOMO – you can catch-up with the renowned trendcaster online. Li has shared her views for the year ahead via her podcast.
