It's summer and we spend a lot of time in the open air, be it in the garden, on the balcony, at barbecues or birthday parties. For retailers, this time of year offers a multitude of possibilities for encouraging customers to enter their shop. Materials available to creative individuals need to be fresh, light, natural and brightly coloured, says Claudia Herke, a designer at the bora.herke.palmisano Trend Bureau. Every year, Messe Frankfurt commissions the Trend Bureau to derive the Creativeworld Trends and provide a forecast of the techniques and materials that will be in demand tomorrow. With the tag line 'Happy Place', Claudia Herke and her colleagues have curated a summery trend that has something to offer for every occasion.
Retailers can decorate their ideas for present giving, gift wrapping and partying with bright, bold colours. Paper plays a major role in this: for invitation cards, made-to-measure packaging, gift boxes and wrapping paper, not to mention paper tablecloths for summer parties. I see, for example, invitation cards on high-quality paper, that have been decorated with strands of wool, pearls or coloured dots. To go with that, there is the correspondingly decorated birthday table, with a brightly coloured chain of woollen pompoms hanging over it, continues Herke. In the 'Happy Place' you are free to do whatever is fun and gives pleasure. Dots and stripes, comics and graffiti the patterns are simple and impactful. There is every kind of paper and cardboard; elegant, smooth, shiny, natural matt, tactile. The apparently endless variety is complemented with pearls, ribbons and pompoms. And there is a wide range of colours too: yellow, orange, red and pink vie in luminosity with greens and blues. But there is no lack of neons either, which develop their full intensity in combination with more sober colours.
Tips and techniques for achieving similar effects
Being able to give informed, expert advice is the be all and end all for high street retailers. That is their strength as against the online business. The Creativeworld Trends enable us to provide the retail trade with an overview of the most popular creative techniques and to showcase the materials that are needed for them, says Claudia Herke, and offers some practical tips:
On-trend technique: create unique items
Acrylic pouring: This is the top trend on the artistic and creative craft scene and, currently the most popular technique with fluid acrylic. Little wonder! For the variety of design possibilities afforded by 'fluid painting', as this technique is also sometimes called, is fascinating. Acrylic pouring involves carefully pouring vibrant-coloured paint over the object, thus creating brightly coloured and stylish one-offs.
Encaustic: This is an ancient technique for creating individualised greeting cards, table cards and gift-wrapping paper. The heyday for encaustic was in the art of Graeco-Roman antiquity. It involves spreading hot, pigmented, molten wax on special encaustic board. That creates textures and colours with an extraordinary shine and an impressive sense of depth.
Design ideas: Gifts for every occasion
Coffee to-go is as popular as it is harmful to the environment. But things can be different: tableware made from sustainable bamboo not only offers a real alternative to the single-use beaker; it lends itself splendidly to being transformed into brightly coloured gifts, offering ideas for a contemporary 'picnic-to-go'.
And to go with coffees and picnics there are tartlets and muffins, even though these may, indeed, sometimes be made out of fabric so absolutely no calories! Home-made decorative items in the form of textile patisserie make fabulous gifts and great decorations - 'sweets for the sweet', as it were. Pearls, bracelets, necklaces and broaches serve as examples of creative eye-catchers.
Design idea: table decoration
Block stripes, applied with luminous glass or porcelain paint, are a great way to freshen up old porcelain. Matching coloured coasters can, for instance, be made from cotton-based watercolour paper. This is painted and then cut to shape with fringing scissors. Tablecloths made from washable paper can also be decorated using fringing scissors.
Polka dots are not only a perennial favourite, they are also an easy-to-use design feature. And the dots can be made from a wide range of materials; anything from paper to felt. They can be painted, stamped or glued: on paper tablecloths, cups, plates and napkins. In similar vein are those good old bobbles or pompoms which are currently enjoying a real revival.
Specialist retailers can keep up to date with the Creativeworld Blog.www.creativeworld-blog.com
The next Creativeworld will take place from 25th to 28th January, 2020.
