Create Tomorrow, The WGSN Podcast

This is the concluding episode of our Milan Design Week Special series in which we’ve explored some of the key trends and brought you insights and interviews from the 2022 edition, which incidentally was the 60th anniversary for the fair that began it all Salone del Mobile.

In this episode the WGSN team discuss Craft Renaissance, a trend that seems to run and run, where we see traditional craftsmanship and artisanal skills are renewed for a contemporary audience.

This is the third in our series of shorter episodes in which we bring you some of the key trends, insights and interviews from Milan Design Week 2022.

In today's episode the WGSN team discuss the Inclusivity and Wellbeing trend. Installations and products that were about designing for inclusivity and that raised awareness around diversity and mental health were a key focus at this year's event.

This is the second in our series of episodes in which we bring you some of the key trends, insights and interviews from Milan Design Week 2022. 

In this episode, Bethan Ryder WGSN Executive Editorial Director is joined by Director of Interiors Lisa White and Head of Interiors Gemma Riberti as we explore our Updated Icons trend.

In this episode we focus on an interview with designer Tom Dixon.

Over the next four days our Interiors experts will be bringing you key trends, insights and interviews from Milan Design Week. Our Trends report lists 13 trends you need to know from Milan Design Week, in this short series of podcasts we’ll cover four of those trends. Expect to hear from design world luminaries from Faye Toogood to Jonathan Anderson and Tom Dixon, plus exciting emerging designers such as Krill Design and the team behind the Huggable Chair, fantastic examples of circular and inclusive designs.

Our first trend is Nature First.

Following the pandemic many professionals around the world are still combining remote and office working. What’s more it’s looking good for productivity. PepsiCo research found that when given more flexibility, and when given a hybrid option, they see an in 15% increase in productivity and 31% less absenteeism. So what does this more fluid, flexible working future mean for people, brands and businesses? That’s what we explore in this episode; from the tech we are likely to demand and adopt, to the type of environments and interior spaces required to tempt us back into the workplace for those meaningful collaborative moments.

Will holograms serve to bring us closer to remote-working colleagues? Will biophilic design keep us feeling nurtured and build company loyalty? And what’s the great reset? Tune in to find out what the future holds for the workplace and where the product design opportunities might lie for brands and businesses. 

Michael Pawlyn is a biomimicry expert, TED talk star and founding director of the London-based practice Exploration Architecture, he is also co-author with Singapore-based urbanist, curator and writer Sarah Ichioka of the book Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency. Published just last year, it’s a persuasive read that tackles existing orthodoxies around sustainability and posits real world design and architecture solutions and strategies to move towards a future where the planet can truly flourish.

Central to Pawlyn and Ichioka’s book is the argument for a paradigm shift, as inspired by the late systems thinker Donella Meadows, and a move away from conventional sustainability to regenerative design and development.

As we read news reports of microplastics being present in human blood and the latest UN climate report issued by the IPCC reminded us that time has nearly run out to meet the 1.5°C warming target of the Paris Agreement, it’s clear we need to take drastic action in reducing plastic waste and our greenhouse gas emissions. So what alternatives are out there when it comes to wrapping up and protecting our products ready for consumers, and how much do consumers really care?

Toward the end of 2021, audio tech giant Sonos released its "Listen Better” report alongside a climate action plan in which is laid out its commitment to a more sustainable future for the business. A key figure driving this plan from within is Kitty Suidman whose role as Design Director of Product Sustainability at Sonos places her at the forefront of the brand’s drive to reduce its environmental impact, with a goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

Joining Bethan Ryder and Kitty in conversation this week is Content Director of Consumer Tech here at WGSN Lisa Yong. Together they discuss how the structure of their businesses internal hierarchies can give sustainability a key role in everything they do and what tech brands can do to balance the tightrope of providing cutting edge products alongside fulfilling the increasing desire for longevity in products that consumers own.

WGSN has been tracking digital assets for many years now but we’re seeing a significant rise in the engagement across markets, regions, categories and consumer cohorts. Approximately 70% of Gen Z and Gen X global consumers rate their digital identity as important, meanwhile 65% rate digital ownership as important and more than 50% are interested in purchasing a digital asset in the next 12 months. In this conversation, WGSN Prints & Graphics Strategist Kraggy is joined by Nell Lloyd-Malcolm CEO and co-founder of XYdrobe, Oliver Royce, who is head of apparel and digital goods at Fnatic, and Ommy Akhe, creative technologist and leading figure in the augmented reality space, to discuss what the implications of these new rules are, and how fashion companies can authentically engage in this space.

Curious about crypto? Join Andrea Bell, director of WGSN Insight, as she hosts this episode unpacking all things crypto, from Web3 and the Metaverse to NFTs. Tune in as she discusses these topics with WGSN experts Cassandra Napoli, Senior Strategist on Insight, and Sarah Housley Head of Consumer Tech, and what they mean for brands and consumers, plus some of our favourite examples of brands taking advantage of cryptocurrencies in the real world.

If you’re a WGSN subscriber you can find many reports covering these subjects, web3, metaverse and the crypto class, plus all the latest trends and developments in Consumer Tech on WGSN.com.