I was excited to hear Li Edelkoort speak. As the most sought after trend analyst in the world, I was fascinated by what she would have to say and why her words mean so much to almost every industry you could think of.

What Edelkoort manages to do is anticipate trends as they’re about to happen, as they’re happening and even predict a trend a good couple of years ahead of time. Which is handy for a business if it wants to know what to expect. What I liked about her trend predictions is that they’re not the same ol’ boring ones we hear about all the time, but they are more in depth and dealing with a broader range of subjects.

So what did she have to say about the changes this year and for the years to come? Here are just a few.

 

 

Apparently we’re in a time when the family means more than the materialistic. When we buy something, we’re not buying it for the material worth, but for the representation behind. Paintings of still lifes are not about the objects, but about the spaces between the objects, how they work together, how they fit, why they fit and that there is something always invisible around them.

 

 

This relates to relationships between people. Everyone wants a partner and with that partnership things have changed. Father’s are more prominent, the relationship between father and child has changed and he is more open to children and being there for his children. There is in essence a new man and he is softer, more tender and giving.

 

 

When it comes to design, there is a return to simplicity, but not to the generic basics, but a new kind of basic, a beautiful, sophisticated basic. One that is well engineered and made of noble materials such as wood.  Metal is still in, which Edelkoort says is strange in a crisis such as the one the world is in, but she says that it is also because the crisis is not of our own doing.

I could go on an on but there are other speakers and I feel that I shouldn’t let one steal all the lime light. However, I will most certainly try getting another post up going through the rest.

Just one more thing, Edelkoort spoke about the trends in sex and the rise of the 21st Century Bordello – in case you’re not sure what that is, it’s a brothel. I think this will need an entirely new post on it’s own, but lets just say, cybersex, superhuman sex and fantasy are featured and it’s fascinating.