Design Directions

Translating consumer trends into actionable designs, colour palettes and materials.

Biofabricated Futures

A revolutionary sustainability breakthrough, biofabrication is the engineering of biological products. This report explores its market evolution and future potential in transforming materials to drive commercial success

Design Directions

Design Directions

Appartement 50

This summer, strangers knocked on the door of Jean-Marc Drut’s apartment. Each wanted to have a look around his home, situated in a Le Corbusier-de...

Design : Bouroullec Brothers : Jean-Marc Drut

Design Directions

Stolen Supper Club

Ordering oysters is about as dangerous as dining gets usually. But at the Stolen Supper Club, a new secret dinner party that steals menus from famo...

Restaurant : Leandro Santos : Mia Kulla

Design Directions

Super Minimal

Driven by the same concern for honesty and sustainability in a world overstuffed with ideas, product offers and choices, consumers are increasingly...

Leanomics : Simplicity : Stuffocation

Design Directions

Full of Grace

Satisfying the desire for pure, clean and simple design, Full of Grace offers an elegant and timeless aesthetic. In tune with consumers’ preference...

Luxury : Sublimity : Craft

Design Directions

The Chin Chin Laboratorists

Watching people make ice cream may not be most people’s idea of fun. But most people haven’t seen Ahrash Akbari-Kalhur and Nyisha Weber making theirs.

Playful : Liquid Nitrogen : Re-enlightenment

Design Directions

Creative Lab

Ever since working with Andy Warhol in the 1980s, vodka brand Absolut has understood the importance of collaboration. But in the Brandtocratic era,...

Berlin : Flexible Architecture : MADE

Design Directions

Minimal Luxury

As noted in our macro trend Leanomics, against a backdrop of ‘stuffocation’, reduced leisure time and information overload, we are witnessing a glo...

Lean : Cognitive Fluency : Simplicity

Design Directions

Community Commerce

Personal micro factories and farms will be a familiar feature in backyards and community allotments in the near future, as consumers increasingly a...

Personal : Kieran Jones : Micro Factory

Design Directions

Lux Modern

Driven by a continuing desire to redefine rarity and value, Lux Modern unpacks an understated, minimalist design direction, capturing the essence o...

Craft : Heritage : Modernist

Design Directions

Essential Authentic

Consumers’ desire to return to a simple life and to reconnect with rural living drives a renewed longing for authentic, vintage and timeless packag...

Vintage : Rural : Graphics

Design Directions

Curb Media

When he started natural media company Curb Media two years ago, many people thought Anthony Ganjou was mad.‘We went into meetings saying,...

Branding : Anthony Ganjou : Grass

Design Directions

Cultural Remix

A vibrant, youth-focused aesthetic direction drawn from Macro Inspire Mix Mash, Cultural Remix maps the evolving celebratory clash of patterns, pri...

Tribal : Indigenous : Nostalgic

Design Directions

Nowness

Luxury brands have been slow to embrace the internet, often fearing it would devalue their exclusivity. But now, with online luxury growing, brands...

Internet : Magtail : Nowness

Design Directions

Workshop

After a decade of excess, we are entering a period of emotional and fiscal realignment. Workshop provides an authentic, raw-yet-dynamic aesthetic t...

D.I.Y : Worker : Factory

Design Directions

Super Folk

As explored in trends such as Rurbans and Form Follows Emotion, some designers are heralding a return to modest products that are built to last for...

Craft : Form Follows Emotion : Artisanal

Design Directions

Bistrotheque

Over a period of three weeks earlier this summer, people picked their way through a construction site in Stratford, London. It will eventually be a...

Restaurant : Contruction : David Waddington

Design Directions

Tutti a Tavola!

What makes a kitchen? To some it’s the preparation of food, experimenting with flavours and hovering over a hot stove. For others it’s a place for ...

Milan : Performing Arts : Tutti A Tavola!

Design Directions

The Sensory Lab

The innovation: Hostailing The space: The Sensory Lab The instigators: St Ali

Bespoke : Hostail : Sensorium

Design Directions

Menswear Spring 2011

Nautical : Punk : Androgyny

Design Directions

Campaign

What would you say if Christopher Bailey, chief creative director at iconic luxury brand Burberry, asked you: ‘Do you know anyone who’d be interest...

Design : Library : Royal Institute Of British Architects