Your Space

By WGSN CREATIVE TEAM, 02 February 2010

Autumn/winter 2011/12 Macro Trends

Your Space

Faux Real

360

Create a sense of personal space to let consumers breathe, think and let a little beauty in. Get rid of the
old and usher in the new.

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We have too much and we know too much. We want to minimise, organise and categorise our immediate
spaces in order to cope.
This very personal trend deals with what people choose to surround themselves with and what they
chose to store be it something physical or the memories and information crowding their consciousness.
In Fair & Square spring/summer 2011 we simplified the message - paring down and focusing on
essential qualities. We now bring a sense of the personal, the ordered and the beautiful to the new
season.

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Research and Reference

LIGHTEN THE LOAD / MICRO ENVIRONMENTS / BODY LOCALITIES / SELECTIVE PRIVACY

LIGHTEN THE LOAD

Store your clothes, your information, and even your memories. Temporarily clear away things to create
space to think.

More people are editing their

belongings and their digital lives
to remove anything
unnecessary.
We will see more filing, sorting
and putting away of unwanted
things.
What does this mean to product
design?
Think about how your products
will be used beyond the
immediate future.

Londons K-Swiss flagship store

has adapted a library display
system.

Cold Souls,2009, is a film

written and directed by Sophie
Barthes.

The next step is to imagine a

store where garments are
categorised and displayed to
simplify the shopping
experience.

The film presents the concept of

putting your soul into storage in
order to live your life minus the
hindrance of emotions.

How is this relevant?

Use display ideas not just to
help customers find the size,
style or colour, but to search
your store or website according
to music taste, lifestyle or niche
interests

We love
The extended notion of storage
and the idea of unexpected
removals. Remove all pigment
from a garment so as to draw
focus to the construction, or
embellish only one detail, like a
cuff or an epaulette.
coldsoulsthemovie.com

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Scent helps us access memory

and feeling.

I Hate Perfume fragrances from

Christopher Brosius references
this intense connection. The
labelling underlines the highly
personal nature of scent.
Think about products that can
help store memories.
www.cbihateperfume.com

MICRO ENVIRONMENTS
People are increasingly creating self-contained, portable, self-generating environments.
From domestic settings to retail and entertainment, explore spaces within spaces, as shifting platforms
for intense interactive experience.

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The Paco Cube by Schemata

Architecture is a self-contained
kit house that can be used
anywhere as a compact holiday
home - The caravan update.
It makes us think about
Approaching the idea of filling
space in the most economical
way possible, from fitting many
small homes within an already
existing large building to
organising shelf and display
space.
paco.bz

Wong Wai Wheel Art Space is a

mobile miniaturised gallery
created as an artwork by Doris
Wong Wai-Yin. Her micro
environment allows her to selfcurate, showing her own and
work and that of friends as she
chooses.
What does this mean to me?
The ability to operate outside of
an institution will guide a wealth
of informal industries and DIY
design practices, flooding the
market with personalised
creativity.

The Murakami Chair

incorporates a lamp powered by
the rocking motion of the chair
in use. The product is selfcontained and self-sufficient,
which makes it a space-saving
living solution. It also has an
obvious and inspirational eco
message.
Look at...
Relationships between different
products, and between products
and consumers.
www.designboom.com

BODY LOCALITIES
Think of the body as a series of connected parts. Look in detail at each section as a personal
meditation as well as to find new territory for design.

Observation Society, a young

art collective in Guangzhou,
China produced the short film
Knee Jerk Reaction.

Body House exhibited at the

furniture fair Maison&Objet
2009 and showed anatomicallyinspired furniture and objects.

In 2000 BLESS and NY

Industries produced a tailored
trouser pocket to be worn as an
accessory.

This art film focuses solely on

the tiny movements of the knee.

Stools were covered in hair, hot

water bottles resembled human
organs and furniture upholstery
explored different skin texture.

We return to this idea for

2012

We are inspired by
The idea of considering the
body as a series of parts.
Isolate a single part of the body

Why is this important?

As designers look for fresh
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As a starting point in developing

ideas. Isolate body parts and
see how this influences the
clothing that encases them in
this case the hand.

and use it as inspiration and

focus.

inspiration, watch as body parts

become the focus for design
interpretation. This isnt
macabre, but considered and
sophisticated with attention to
new texture and form.

The North Face E-Tip is a

special winter glove designed in
a touch-sensitive fabric that
makes using a touch-screen
device easier.
Were inspired by...
Focusing on specific body parts
to extend the usefulness of a
tool or gadget.
As we increasingly use our
bodies to control technology
(see macro trend 360) how can
we use our clothing and
accessories to increase the
efficiency?

SELECTIVE PRIVACY
Online life has challenged traditional ideas of privacy. We are inspired by the artists, designers and
programmers who play with this.
Take control. Play with concepts such as invisibility and absence.

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Facebook (2009) by Ajit

Chauhan is created by
selectively sanding away details
from iconic record covers,
leaving only the eyes and hair.
What does this mean to design?
The process of erasing and
removing focuses on the
aesthetic importance of
negative space and can be
translated into garment prints,
finishing and pattern cutting.

Scientists are developing reallife invisibility cloaks in fact a

liquid that refracts all visible
light.
The process uses silver-plated
nanoparticles suspended in
water.
This kind of technology pushes
our thinking about digital prints
Consider new styles of
camouflage that go beyond 2D
optical illusions. These could
update print and pattern as well
as influencing fabric technology.
blogs.techrepublic.com.com

The Dont tag me in this photo

T-shirt makes light of
embarrassing photos uploaded
to social media sites such as
Facebook.
Its flippant, but taps into the
increasing desire to control how
and when youre seen in the
digital world.
Explore...
Aspects of privacy and
exposure with product finish and
materials that may change
appearance when
photographed. Graphics and
typography are used to convey
subversive messages.
donttagmeinthisphoto.com

Seppukoo.com by Italian art

group Les Liens Invisibles is a
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provocative project that allows

you to commit social-networking
suicide.
The message is: People are fed
up with the lack of privacy
offered by todays social
networks and are choosing to
opt out.
Seppukoo taps into this desire
with a humorous service that
leaves a memorial statement to
your actions.
www.seppukoo.com
www.lesliensinvisibles.org

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