HBL Tradeshows: Live from Domotex 2011

Floor to Heaven at Domotex 2011

WGSN-homebuildlife visited Hanover this week for its annual flooring tradeshow, Domotex. To read our entire live report from the event, subscribers should click here; to whet your appetite, here are the three key trends we noted at the event.

Preserved 19th Century Mansion Opens to Public

The BBC has published the story of Louis Mantin and his late 19th Century townhouse in central France. Mantin's last wishes, which were recently fulfilled, was to leave the house untouched for a century and consequently open it to the public as a museum.

HBL Analysis: Interactive light displays

A still from Whistling Sea by Jun Ga Young (2009)

At architectural lighting fair the Arc Show in London last week, two light installations on show as a preview for Kinetica Art Fair were proving very popular amongst visitors. Both use light, movement and audio with the intention of immersing the viewer in a sensory experience which they feel rather than understand. A new online app also harnesses the power of moving light and colour, with similar intent.

Small House in Nakanohigashi by Small House Design Lab

Pushing the boundaries of what a residential interior can look like, Small House in Nakanohigashi by Small House Design Lab, utilizes subtle level differences, materiality and colour blocking to create a sense of rooms and continuity within the small, pie-shaped house.

HBL Analysis: Students design new cutlery for Gense

Scandinavian cutlery brand Gense recently gave students of Stockholm design school Beckmans the challenge of designing cutlery which explored contemporary eating rituals. The students' solutions included curved knives and forks for TV dinners and a multi-functional tool inspired by African meal traditions. Some of the cutlery will be put into production by Gense in future collections.

HBL Analysis: Ruth Mastenbroeke launches scented homewear

As a result of consumers seeking multi-sensory experiences, use of fragrance within the home and public spaces has become widespread - confirming WGSN-homebuildlife’s spring/summer 2011 macrotrend Sensory.

Feeding into this trend, English perfumer Ruth Mastenbroeke has developed her first home fragrance range, combining homewear with microencapsulation technology to create a luxuriously scented bathrobe.

HBL Events: An Exhibition for Hipstamatics

An exhibition celebrating the Hipstamatic app for the iPhone, which captures images in the heavily filtered style of analogue photography from the 1980s, has opened at Orange Dot Gallery in London. 157 prints are on show - a reference to the limited number of Hipstamatic cameras originally produced by American brothers Bruce and Winston Dorbowski in 1982.

HBL Trend analysis: open source design

Triso typeface by Ric Bell is available as a downloadable graphic for CNC machining at SomeRightsReserved by Kithkin

At recent trade shows and student exhibitions, a clear trend has emerged that sees a new generation of designers creating and exploring the possbilities of open-source design. Open-source product design refers to designs that are available as a set of instructions, accesible to everyone and open to the individual's interpretation. By using the internet to nurture this new way of designing, we are seeing the emergence of a new breed of consumer, one who can select, adapt and build his own collection of product designs. In a report this week WGSN examined how open source design could affect the future of the design industry.

HBL Tradeshows: Live from Premiere Vision Preview, New York

Efilan SRL spring/summer 2012

WGSN has been reporting live from textile fair Premiere Vision's Preview show in New York this week. The exhibits on show give a taste of the spring/summer 2012 collections from all the top mills worldwide. The three key fabric trends to emerge from the show are:

Digital imagery
Both abstract and literal patterns including the solar system, flowers and animal prints are blown out and made futuristic through pixelated, digital printing techniques.

Faux skin
Super-soft faux snake, ostrich and crocodile patterns appear real with natural dyes and special embossing techniques. Coated fur and buttery suedes are also popular.

Silver shimmer
Tweeds and ribbed knits are given sparkle with shimmery silver threading and beaded embellishment.

HBL Materials: A/W 12/13 direction

Aqua Chair by Hyun-Dae Kang: animated water jets create a physical seat before the waterfall effect fades

WGSN-homebuildlife's Materials team have released their key directions for autumn/winter 2012/13, comprising six original trends which will inform product and design development across form, surface and finish.

Kinto at Maison & Objet and NYIGF

In anticipation of Maison & Objet and NYIGF, which are right around the corner, here is the newest from one of our favorite discoveries from last season. Kinto is a Japanese tableware brand that designs beautifully simple, yet surprisingly quirky pieces.

HBL Innovation: Grey Label by Polaroid

One of the most interesting product launches at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week was that of Grey Label, the first new range from Polaroid to benefit from the vision of its recently-appointed creative director, Lady Gaga. The GL20, pictured above, is a pair of glasses with a built-in camera which allows the user to take a photo and then display it on LCD screens inside the lenses.

To read our previous post highlighting the three key trends to emerge from CES, click here; while subscribers can read our full report from the event here.