Colour, forms and textures – Heimtextil Trends for 2008/2009 under new patronage
Five well-known, international design agencies demand: "It’s time to be…"
Trends are not unpredictable, random developments. They evolve over a period of years. Around the world, a host of trend scouts investigate and research fashion colour, pattern, shape, texture and textile trends. Every year since the 90s, Messe Frankfurt  has published a home and contract furnishing textiles trend book featuring the four biggest trends, the intention being to provide orientation to those in the textile sector concerned with trends. Collages illustrate the trend colours for the forthcoming season, show potential fabric combinations and set out the homestyles, which flow from each trend. At the beginning of the year, five internationally acclaimed design agencies, Alvisi e Alvisi, bora.herke, Carlin, Concept Magenta and stijlinstituut amsterdam, joined forces and set up a trend table for the 2008/2009 trends, the slogan for which is: It’s time to be…
Fulvio Alvisi describes his design philosophy thus: "The objective, in terms of the work we do, is to endeavour to translate joie de vivre and beauty into design". The 55-year-old, who graduated from textile college in 1971, founded the Alvisi e Alvisi design studio in Como two years later together with his sister Luciana. In addition to design templates, colour projections and fabric recommendations for international clients from the home-textile sector, Alvisi develops Jacquard patterns and textures. The inspiration for the Alvisis comes from a detailed examination of the Italian lifestyle and countless trips to the capital cities of the fashion world, where they look for the latest trends which they subsequently convert into textiles. The preservation of the Italian silk tradition is one of their personal concerns. Working together with companies from Como, they not only research the history of the material but also keep developing new products.
Fulvio Alvisi lectured at the College for Textiles and University of Como from 1993 to 2002. Since 1994, he has also been President of the Italian Textile Designers Association, the largest trade association in Europe with 62 member studios, and works tirelessly for the protection of intellectual property rights.
Fashion designers Claudia Herke (42), Cem Bora (42) and Annetta Palmisano (43) from bora.herke are not just members of the trend table and, as in previous years, are responsible for the creative conception of trends in the Messe Frankfurt Forum. The three designers have been organising international trend shows and exhibitions since 1990 and, over the past ten years, a variety of Messe Frankfurt events as well. The spectrum of the style agency’s work also includes visual merchandising development in the form of brand profiles, display window concepts and corporate identity.
bora.herke create exceptional rooms, emotively capture and artistically present trends by identifying and visually implementing new fashion, interior and lifestyle trends. They create their trend shows, product presentations and show rooms from design to realilsation, their inspiration coming from music, art, culture, design and graphics. The three designers describe the nature of their work as follows: "In the course of this work, new areas and demands are constantly emerging and our strengths lie in developing them". Their projects include, for example, displays for the guerrilla store "Comme des Garçons" in Berlin and the "Qualified" project for the 2006 World Cup, a project for which they designed the footballs, which were put on show at Colette in Paris and elsewhere.
Mayouri Sengchanh studied international economics at the Institut Supérieur de Gestion in Paris and already set her sights on a career in fashion during her studies, which included a period of practical training in the USA and Japan at companies like yarn manufacturers Passot and the Blancbleu label. As chief executive of Exalis in Cologne and now in Berlin, the 33-year-old Frenchwoman has, for the past eight years, been head of the official liaison office for a range of international fashon fairs, including Première Vision (Paris) and Living Room (Tokyo), together with business partner Dominique Cherpin. In addition to this, Exalis also represents Carlin in Germany and Switzerland, the oldest trend agency in the world, one of the big five in the sector. "Each season, we produce 17 trend books in total, spanning every fashion-relevant theme from colour to material, prints to lingerie and much more. We also develop customer-related colour and trend worlds at workshops lasting several days", Sengchanh said.
Exalis assumes responsibility for press work, visitor care and exhibitor acquisition in Germany and Switzerland on behalf of clients, and also functions as project and brand consultants for companies looking to gain a foothold in Germany.
When German textile engineer Marion Becella founded the Concept Magenta agency three years ago, she already could look back on a varied career in the textile industry: Becella designed fabrics for Swiss weavers Weisbrod Zürrer, manufacturers of fabrics for famous fashion designers like Kenzo and Armani, Sahco Hesslein and JAB Anstoetz, after which she initially went off in a totally different direction, developing technical textiles such as drive belts, before working on retail sales concepts for a team of consultants. Three years ago, Becella, who is now 41 years old, founded the Concept Magenta agency, which is headquartered in the Swiss town of Niederweningen. Becella and her team work as collection consultants, create colour cards and conduct trend and market research. She also provides a consulting service to fabric manufacturers like Saum & Viebahn and Silent Gliss and to contract furnishing sector clients. As a trend consultant, Becella produces seasonal information for the Swiss Textile Federation, which members like Schoeller, Calida and Lantal Textil use as a source of inspiration for new textiles. The Federation puts together the textile engineer’s colour, material and theme trends twice a year as colour cards and reports every three months on the latest lifestyle, fashion and art trends during the "Textile Trend Days". Becella also oversees the project work of textile students at Lucerne’s University of Art and Design.
Fashion designer Anne Marie Commandeur is chief executive and owner of the stijlinstituut Amsterdam (formerly studio commandeur). She is a lecturer at the Eindhoven Design Academy, a member of the Advisory Committee of the Netherlands Society for Visual Art, Design and Architecture as well as a regular member of the examinations board of various art and design colleges. With her stijlinstituut workforce comprising both permanent and freelance staff, the 44-year-old Dutchwoman specialises in trend consulting for innovative yarns and textiles, as well as on forecasting colour trends, product design and design concept strategies. The stijlinstituut's client list includes yarn manufacturers like Invista with Lycra and Tactel, as well as companies like Asics, Nike, H&M and Marks & Spencer, for which the stijlinstituut provides textile and fashion forecasting consultancy services. "As well as working for companies, we also produce trend forums for fair organisers. Regardless of what we do, our main focus is on trends and innovations", reports Anne Marie Commandeur. Well-known projects, completed by the stijlinstituut team include the Concepstore at the Dutch Fashion Fair "Modefabriek” in Amsterdam. In 2006, in an interdisciplinary mix of "pocket-sized designer shops” and a mini museum, over 80 designers, most of them from the Netherlands, showed off their fashion and design collections. Here, relaxed shopping came together with entertainment and information about the latest fashion and design developments.
Contact
Claudia Franke / Christine Kern
Tel. +49 69 75 75-67 38 / 60 84
Fax +49 69 75 75-60 99
Claudia.Franke@messefrankfurt.com
Christine.Kern@messefrankfurt.com
www.messefrankfurt.com
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Heimtextil Trends 2008/2009
