I heart Li Edelkoort

Today I was lucky enough to attend a lecture by an amazing guy called Philip Fimmano. Philip is the assistant to one of the world's most influential trend-forecasters, Li Edelkoort, who is currently in Australia for a series of lectures. Since the 1980s, Li has been producing much sought-after trend-books and working with high-profile fashion, lifestyle and car companies with her company Trend Union.

Li Edelkoort (image from Trend Union website).

Li and her team forecast trends based on a broad, holistic, lifestyle-centred analysis of the world, sourcing inspiration from all manner of things around them - fashion, art, music, nature and design.
The result is an amazingly evocative collection of images that convey the whole story, emotion and feel of the trend they are predicting.

images from 'bloom' magazine, produced by Trend Union.

The lecture today was a combination of beautiful visuals, background information about trend forecasting and Trend Union, and a question and answer session, which was brilliant. The lecture finished with a presentation of some of the forecast trends for this winter - a stunning visual and audio feast. I didn't want it to end. There was so much to take from the images and the music was amazingly well chosen and evocative.

I walked out of the presentation with so many ideas swirling around in my head, and really excited about the possibilities of transposing ideas into my design work. If you ever get the chance to see Li or Philip talk, definitely take it. You will not be dissapointed! For more information on Li and Trend Union, check out their website here.