When I have the time, I attend Lauren Shantall’s Trendtalk meetings in the home of Cape Town design, the Inner City Ideas Cartel, on Waterkant Street. The talks focus on lifstyle, décor, and design. So it was two weeks ago, when the 10th such meeting was addressed by a mix of speakers, a salute to the Milan Fair which was taking place at the same time.
The first speaker was not on the program, and represented Rock Girl, a ‘grass roots movement to inspire, encourage, and invest in women and girls’. They had brought children along, unruly and without control, disturbing the rest of the audience. The link to this association was not explained to the audience.
Independent Trend Analyst Saint-Francis Tohlang addressed the topic of ‘The creative economy through Africa’s lens’. He said that by 2020 60% of Africa will be urbanised, and 65% of the continent’s population is under the age
of 35. The ‘creative economy’ drives development, he said. He mentioned Lagos, saying that it is a ‘city of chaos’ but that it works, and the Green Market in Accra. He was impressed by some of the World Design Capital 2014 projects, including fire-proofing shacks, free wifi for Africa through Project Isizwe, and the bicycle empowerment network. He said that there is a new-found pride in African textures, but that African designers do not yet have many platforms for their work. He shared that Nigeria’s film industry ‘Nollywood‘ makes more movies than does ‘Bollywood‘ in India!
Peter Gordon is also a trend analyst, having previously worked for Woolworths. He offers Trend and Design Solutions (also the name of his business) through international design and trend publications (including Trend Bible, Trendstock, Trend Reports, Bloom, Viewpoint, Scout), which he represents in our country. He shared that the fashion trend for 2016 is ‘Seventies, with ‘botanical florals‘ and ‘retro chic‘, all of which had been identified in 2013 already! Other trends are ‘Afropolitan‘, and ‘tailored casual menswear‘. He also talked about the ‘Digital Detox‘ trend, a reaction to digital overload, going back to vinyl records, retro summer camps, Polaroids, cassette tapes, hand-held cameras, natural fabrics, warm colours, A-line dress shapes, socks and sandals (!), tan suede and leather, and brass and natural woods for interior design.
Architect Daniel van der Merwe was luckily the last speaker on the Friday afternoon, being the most dynamic and
energetic speaker about a topic one would not have thought to be so interesting: ‘Concrete trends‘. He mentioned Suzaan Heyns and her collaboration with PPC Cement to make 
concrete come alive through design. He initiated PPC Imaginarium, to encourage the use of concrete in design. We were shown images of concrete used in the design of a diamond ring, a dress, loudspeakers, statues, in roof gardens, lamp shades, indoor furniture, garden furniture, iPhone covers, wallpaper, and underwater statues (by James Taylor in Mexico).
Even if it was a long (and initially disrupted) sit at the end of a busy week, it was a fascinating picture which Peter Gordon and Daniel van der Merwe in particular painted about our design future!
Trendtalk, Lauran Shantall www.trendtalk.co.za Twitter: @LaurenShantall
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Tel (021) 433-2100, Twitter:@WhaleCottage Facebook: click here
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