Create Tomorrow, The WGSN Podcast

We’ve seen alternatives to meat and dairy products on the market for some time now, and the embracing of plant-based meat alternatives have sky-rocketed in the past few years, it is inevitable that this combination of culinary skills and scientific knowledge will play out across the food and drink space. WNWN Food Labs is just one of many new and exciting brands trying to forge ahead in this growing market with their first product, a zero-cacao chocolate bar, created from alternative plant-based ingredients. They are part of a small but growing movement called “alt-choc”.

Joining WGSN CEO Carla Buzasi is Dr Johnny Drain, aka ‘the Walter White of Fermentation’ and founder of WNWN food labs, and WGSN’s Head of Food and Drink Jen Creevy, to discuss consumers’ growing awareness of the ethics of our food supply chains, the power of fermentation in the latest plant based foods and what products WNWN could be planning next.

Wellness themes play a major part in our flagship report Big Ideas 2024 which has just landed on all our product design platforms. One of our most popular reports with clients, this report looks ahead to see how trends will shape what consumers need and want in two years’ time and we apply it to all of the industries we serve.

Listen to find out what a bathfluencer is, why we’re becoming interested in mood foods and why snacking can actually be good for you. Plus, which Friends star has launched a cleaning line… no it’s not Matt Le Blanc.

Ramdane Touhami is a creative visionary, serial entrepreneur and the man behind global beauty brand Buly 1803, which he founded in 2014 with his wife and business partner Victoire de Taillac and sold in October last year to LVMH. Not a bad trajectory for the son of an apple picker who was himself homeless 25 years ago. He recently published, The Beauty of Time Travel (Gestalten), which explores how you construct a global brand ”from the bottom up”. 

Bethan Ryder, WGSN's Executive Editorial Director and Lisa White, Director of Interiors join Ramdane to ask how to resurrect an historic brand, what role creativity plays in business and whether he is looking forward to designing in the metaverse.

This week we throw the spotlight on outdoor lifestyles. A topic we've been closely tracking at WGSN as the pandemic has shifted consumer behaviour, with many people embracing nature and activities in the fresh air. Alongside hiking and wellness trends such as forest bathing we're witnessing an increase in what you might call 'social sports', from surfing to skateboarding and currently in the northern hemisphere a winter sports boom and with it the rise of an associated aesthetic: Gorpcore. So grab your activewear and lets take this week's episode outside.

Links:

This week, WGSN CEO Carla Buzasi is joined by three members of the WGSN's consultancy team, Mindset, to discuss the top priorities design brands should have for 2022. Spanning North America, Asia and Europe the three Mindset experts are used to challenging briefs from diverse brands wrestling with creating better products and experiences for their consumers. All understand design brand challenges and consumer behaviour, and are here to give a quick lesson in brand resilience and planning for the future.

2022 is just around the corner. In what has been another year of ups and downs, we're now looking forward to the clean slate of a brand new year. At WGSN that means nailing down the key trends for the coming year and ensuring you're set for a super-successful 2022. So what can you expect to see trending next year? This week we talk through the team's most significant trend predictions for the coming year.

We're in the midst of party season in many regions of the world whether celebrating Christmas or looking ahead to Lunar New Year. While many of us had hoped we'd be in a far better place than last year, with the arrival of the Omicron variant, festivities are again in question. 

This week we discuss how things are shaping up for home entertaining, over the next few months.

With a global sense of disappointment it's even more crucial to discuss and determine how brands and creatives can design systems and products that respond to the climate emergency.

This episode we are joined by Carole Collet, Professor in Design for Sustainable Futures at Central St. Martins University in London where she is director of Maison/0, the Central St. Martins LVMH platform for regenerative luxury and also co-director of the Living Systems Lab, a research lab which explores the inherent properties of biological living systems to develop new knowledge in the field of ecology via creative practices in art, design and architecture. 

As we enter what is traditionally the busiest time for retail in many regions, we felt it was time to shine a light on bricks and mortar stores and discuss what brands and retailers can do to lure consumers back.

What's the future of the store and what hybrids or strategies can businesses employ to play a part in creating thriving cities again. Or is there something else entirely new around the corner which we will see in the near future? 

The topic of sustainability is never far from the top of our agenda at WGSN and with the publication of our new white paper "Create Better", this episode we will be talking about new practices and lessons that everyone who works in design can learn from. Against the backdrop of COP26 it also feels like the right time to challenge ourselves to do much more in this space.

We are seeing huge consequences of global warming right now, you just need to look out of your window or read today's headlines, and here at WGSN we believe that it's time for the design industries to start putting words into action, which is what this episode is all about.