We spent a day walking the show with Helen Walters and Jessie Sclanlon from the Design & Innovation Channel on BusinessWeek.com. They’ve been kind enough to feature some of our words and pictures in their latest column. They say:
Trends seen at ICFF work their way into industries such as autos and even technology, thanks to attendees like Piers Fawkes, founder of trendwatching agency PSFK, an online resource for what’s new and next in the worlds of branding, fashion, and design. For him, the event offers an opportunity to confirm trends initially gleaned in Milan. “There, I saw a lot of sculptural designs—pieces folded into themselves or formed in complex geometrical shapes,” he says. “You can see that again here in New York with pieces like the ‘Twist’ table by PearsonLloyd.”
Then there was the apparently random but pervasive repetition of colors and materials—orange was “everywhere,” Fawkes avowed. All of this information is promptly fed into consultancy work and trend reports for companies such as SK Telecom (SKM), with which PSFK has been working recently to redefine the Korean giant’s mobile-communications business.
One clear trend was the increasing independence of American design. Although the industrial-design industry was born in this country in the mid-20th century, European firms have dominated the design scene for the past decades. While the European presence is still strong at the fair, American firms like Bernhardt Design are an emerging presence.
A big thank you to David Pinter who fed us words and pictures - more of which you can find in his own review here.
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