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With technology moving at a rate of knots and the most exciting and innovative product developments coming from crowd-funding sites, the current model of retail product development needs to drastically change, and very quickly at that. Let's first take a quick step back and see what we have learnt from consumer attitudes and trends over the past few years, as we emerge from the financial meltdown and general economic crisis of the past seven years:     ·       Consumers no longer have brand loyalty. ·       Consumers want an "exciting and unique" retail experience. ·       Consumers' online habits are increasing online sales. ·       Consumers are buying into "crowd-funding" whereby they are guaranteed a unique product. ·       Consumers want unique and differentiated product There are many other current trends, yet these five continually arise in many articles and reports from an array of industry professionals. Even knowing all of this, reta

We have all noticed how shopping experiences change from season to season with a similarity across products, styles and colour happening at the same time across different platforms. These trends don't get decided by a panel of creatives sitting around a table, but are rather the result of a multitude of influences from economic, social, political and pop culture. In order to predict these trends everything is explored and investigated and certain patterns start to form, it's these similarities that will shape the trends for years to come. It is also very important to understand that South Africa is in many ways different to the rest of the world and therefore important to get a local perspective on these emerging trends instead of just taking influence from international inspiration.  Colours are one area that often varies drastically from our overseas counterparts, we have different light as well as landscape here in SA and we tend to relate better to more earthy colours

Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI (born Vivienne Isabel Swire on 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she made clothes for Malcolm McLaren's boutique in the King's Road, which became famous as "SEX". It was their ability to synthesise clothing and music that shaped the 1970s UK punk scene, dominated by McLaren's band, the Sex Pistols. She was deeply inspired by the shock-value of punk - "seeing if one could put a spoke in the system". Westwood went on to open four shops in London, eventually expanding throughout the United Kingdom and the world, selling an increasingly varied range of merchandise, some of it linked to her many political causes such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, climate change and the civil rights group Liberty. She has been twice married, with two children.

A trend taking the world by storm at the moment is the increase in and demand for handmade and artisanal products available in all categories – from food and beer to furniture and decor. It is no longer a one-size-fits-all economy; and with an extreme backlash to mass production, consumers are appreciating and searching for uniqueness and customisation. Even top-end exclusive brands, which over the last 20 years would never have entertained the thought of customising their already expensive product offering to a customer’s taste, are now adjusting their business models and entering the age of customisation. It is no wonder that this paradigm shift in the way we purchase is becoming highly popular in the furniture and decor sectors. Not only are our living spaces all different, but we are also finding fewer built-in units and cupboards going into new homes to allow for more flexibility; and technological advances have made it possible for bespoke and “once-off” products t