Design Directions
Interconnected
Health & beauty
Beauty means knowing your uniqueness and being yourself. Hair as identity and as a connection with the natural and spiritual.
Beauty products shift away from laboratory to home made.
Radiating, vibrating, glowing, beaming.
Memories and smell are related, a scent can give a sense of belonging.
Beauty products that are inspired by the abstract precolonial sculpture, myths, magic, sacred geometry, the wisdom of nature, seeds, cells and spores.
Charcoal as an ingredient.
Colourful packaging, collage techniques.
Food and plants as the only medicines to take for our health.
Uniqueness
Memories
Waterless
Glow
Left to right
Debra Shaw, photo by Campbell Addy
Hand soap by Hai
Adonis Bosso by Kasheem Daniels
Mona Tougaard, photo by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
Combs by Ya Wen Chou
Photo by Afroscope
Turmeric Botanical Bar by Redoux
Food
Eating food is a ceremony. Food is a dynamic part of the living processes of the Earth that is in flux.
Traditional food ways and indigenous ingredients from some of the oldest civilisations become popular.
Wood-fire cooking.
Revitalise ancient approaches to farming, restore our connection with the soil and the food we eat.
Simple and understated food, acor, chestnuts, hazelnuts, raw and pure ingredients. Smaller portions with lots of flavour. Healthy dips. Away from sweet to more sour tastes. Herbs such as bergamot, sage, staghorn sumac, mustard, and mint.
Combine seemingly different worlds and flavours and emphasise the connection.
Ceremony of food
Indigenous ingredients
Sour
Connect
Left to right
Forageables, photo by Juliet Blankespoor
Photo by Renee Byrd
Nigerian street food by Brooklyn Suya
Ghanian snack by This Girl Can Cook
Photo by Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen
Chocolate bar by Mirzam with Turquoise Mountain and Ziba Foods
Woman’s clothing
Dress to express, clothes as tools to make a collage of yourself allowing others to understand you.
Being free with fashion and mixing references and occasions. Exploring how you want to dress and be empowered by your own style.
A chic approach to sportswear, metallic coated materials, volume styles, two tone colours. Blending ethnic references with athletic materials.
Creating volume with sculptural adjustable shapes.
Nothing new, what can you do with unused materials.
Buyers are the new sellers and exchange their clothes online.
Tools
Being free
Chic sportswear
Nothing new
Left to right
Outfit by NorBlack NorWhite
Outfit by Xu zhi
Utopian garments by Benjamin Benmoyal
Photo by Carmen Kemmink
Brides of Bangladesh by Jouk Oosterhof
Outfit by NorBlack NorWhite
Men’s clothing
Breaking up the monotony of men’s collections, men’s clothes with a disregard for gender, accidentally unisex. Clothes-for-all design approach fuelled by a desire to want to wear everything, skirts included.
Bold and colourful styles and prints. Ethnic patterns and techniques applied to clothing.
Shiny fabrics for sportswear.
Hats and hoodies. Loose fitting and fluid styles.
Make quantities of items at a relatively inexpensive price point. Combine complex and simple, big and bold.
Handmade, hand dyed items, limited editions, made on the spot.
Unisex
Ethnic patterns
Hand made
Inexpensive
Left to right
Sweater by Paria Farzaneh
Outfit by Baja East
Outfit by Ruby Sterling, photo by Bennet Perez
Denim hoodie found at ID vice
Image found at The Masons
Jacket by Laolu Senbanjo
Living
Develop pieces that are the opposite of mass production, small scale, self-made pieces that give an object soul.
Start communicating with the world through design.
New things can only be created when others are broken down. Inspirations and materials come from buildings and construction sites. Re-used materials, products with a (hi)story.
Mixture of both more and less expensive materials. Design should be simple, affordable and available for large numbers of people.
Warm and inviting interiors that tell a story.
Small scale
Communicate
Re-use
Affordable
Left to right
Photo by Dimore Studio
Ceramics by Anne Breton
Photo by Unknown
Better Nights by Mickalene Thomas
Artwork by Alessandro Teoldi
Studio IMA, photo by Genevieve Lutkin
Architecture
Timber exteriors that are robust, tautly detailed, resilient to corrosive elements such as sea air.
A return to primal and timeless forms of space with interconnected, organically shaped spaces.
Innovative spaces, underneath the ground,
Places that are as a hidden shelter to thoughtfully contemplate.
Irregular and imperfect texture showing traces of manual construction.
Sand-covered roofs that reduces the heat load. Low-energy, zero-emission ground source heat pump system replaces traditional air conditioning.
Create houses with spatial and material qualities at an affordable price for all.
Spiritual places
Timber
Primal
Interact
Left to right
Interactive wall installation by T Sakhi
Krakani Lumi by Taylor and Hinds Architects
City dreams by Bodys Isek Kingelez
Photo by Ensemble Studio
Experimental Mexican Community by Tatiana Bilbao and Frida Escobedo
Mobility
Micro mobility, e-scooters become widespread in metropolitan cities.
Mobility that is meant to increase accessibility to education, health, economic opportunities in a safe, reliable and affordable way. Accessibility needs to be considered across social classes.
History and cultures of global cities drive them towards unique forms of urbanisation. Practically every city is defined by a fabric of history, culture and values that impacts how people move.
Locally made, low-priced, rugged cars for rough roads and the rural terrain which is found across much of the world.
Vehicles are a part of the expression of identity. Mobility can be colourful and expressive.
Micro mobility
Accessibility
Unique
Local
Left to right
Bikes and grafitti in Newtown, photo by Lebo Lukewarm
Viva, electric scooter by Gogora
Made in Africa for Africa SUV by Mobius Motors
Photo by Flume
Recycled skateboard deck by Iris skateboards
Taxi biker in Kinshasa, photo by Vincent Dolman
Technology
Technology will become less and less visible and invasive and become a natural bodily extension.
Ethical and regulatory interventions will make engineers, data scientists and developers reconsider privacy as an inbuilt design feature.
More dimensions are added in the digital domain for immersive web experiences.
Switch off, enjoy life, connect with others.
A new kind of energy market emerges, operated by consumers, changing the way we generate and consume electricity. Energy marketplace for locally generated, renewable energy.
Connecting history with modern technology, blend the old and the new.
Privacy
Dimensional
Local energy
Switch off
Left to right
Dotdotdot for Enel Green Power
Art of Transformation by Imaging Research Centre
Photo found at Snakes and moon beams
Photo by Nick Rochowski
The Brooklyn Microgrid
Maestro, tiny modular satellite by NovaWorks