imm cologne 2009: Trendboard + trend book

The work of the Trendboard is less about which materials or colours will be used or which design will appear the most frequently, as these vary only gradually from year to year. What is more important is to determine how materials and colours are used and the circumstances behind the various designs.

The members of the 2009 imm cologne Trendboard, who come from different cultural groups, scrutinised a lot of niches and, during their two-day workshop, not only identified the 2009 interior trends bundled in the trend book but also picked up on the trends which are most likely to show up as trends in the next few years - thus creating the basis for the future work of Trendboard.

For example, this year, a shift towards companies from northern Europe seems to be in the offing, as far as innovative design trends are concerned. What is also noticeable is that international design students and young designers are taking more account of ecological perspectives in their choice of product materials.

In an era of high energy prices and climate change, transport costs and sustainabilityare increasingly important factors and this too poses new challenges for the design discipline - challenges which could well be reflected in trends in the not too distant future.

The Trendboard has chosen the following for headlines to describe the future trend next year in the imm cologne trend book 2009:

EXTRA MUCHTo the Limit | Juxtaposition | Virus Attacs | Trash Luxe
Sorry but minimalism no longer works and modest requirements are regrettably a false virtue. In an extreme phase, it simply has to be more, more of everything and al thel time, so we exploit everything to the full. And this is far more than we think.
We create artificial worlds and access areas, which have never seen mankind before. Revolutionary technology facilitates this. It has infiltrated our nature like a virus. Bit by bit we are changing our habitual perspectives and ultimately our entire lifestyle. Welcome in a new era!

NEAR AND FARSelf-Sufficiency | Ephemeral Appearance | Hig Low | Natural Systems
In nature we see a system, which appears to follow a perfect design - a system of unbelievable complexity, which only works due to its focus on the essentials: on self-maintenance. It is able to act entirely self-sufficiently. Nothing happens needlessly, no movement is carelessly undertaken, no form created unless a need exists. The whole is what interests us and we are aware that the whole represents the sum of the details, after all everything is interrelated - near and far, micro- and macro-structures. And this is exactly how we aim to design - as accomplices of nature - the grand system designer.

TEPEE CULTUREFrom Deco to Eco | Real Experience | Comforting Values | Meaningful Themes
We have broke free of the urban jungle. Where shall we pitch our tent tonight? Somewhere we like, of course. Somewhere with a few animals to serenade us to sleep. Somewhere, where we can wake up and experience the world around us in a totally different way - a real world we can touch, a world which exudes a feeling of well-being. Out there, everything makes sense because nothing seems false or artificial. Everything has its place and an internal order. Every detail has a meaning. It´s a perfect world. Nothing disrupts, pure self-certainty blows through everything.

RE-RUN TIMESaving the Planet in Style | Memory | Sublime | Pure Form
Has everything been here before? Unfortunately not! But it would be great if everything around us were so perfect that it would be safe to belive it had been there before. Our credo is: constancy instead of change, self-evidence instead of originality. Unfortunately reality looks rather different. But we can change it. To the extent that as designers we concern ourselves with the commonplace, upgrading it to a level which does justice to its importance. With a bit of polishing and updating, we can reuse an everyday object with a good conscience. It´s so perfect that we ungrudgingly have to admit it has earned it.

For more informations according to definitions of all the different sub-themes, the Trendboard members and anything further please contact the imm cologne.