Design trends

Emotional marketing and product extensions are on the increase
With markets constantly growing and becoming more global, emotional marketing becomes increasingly important. Those who connect their product with an interesting story have a decisive competitive advantage in the market. Pieces of furniture are to tell a story which appeals to the consumer’s emotions, because even though buying decisions are justified rationally, they are made emotionally. In this context product marketing plays a role of constantly increasing significance. Special gift packaging is aimed at appealing to the customer’s emotion and creating increased attention at the point of sale.

In general, many manufacturers focus on product extensions and accessories instead of presenting real innovations, since by producing variants of existing products they can offer product differentiation with very little cost. For this purpose colours, decors and prints are constantly designed anew, thus almost creating product collections. Here the product cycles are almost as short as in the fashion industry.

Nature inspires furniture
The influence of bionics, a research discipline with the aim of understanding the construction principles found in nature and translating them into technology, has made nature the model for decorative elements in the field of furniture.

African ethno elements dominate
As an effect of globalisation cultures and styles are mixing and inspiring each other to create new symbioses. Particularly Western Europe is looking at new themes from other cultures. Apart from oriental elements it is currently above all African ethno elements and their colours, forms and materials which are popular. Many living room accessories are inspired by traditional African handicrafts. An archaic language of forms is contrasted with the western technologies used to manufacture such products.

The return of the ceremonies
Ceremonies, which represent a certain way of life, are professionalized. In this context, drinking tea has been rediscovered as a possibility to slow down life and as a source of conscious enjoyment.

The manual aspect of drinking tea is contrasted by automation in the field of coffee specialities. The increased interest in international coffee specialities is driven by the great demand for fully automatic coffee machines. Besides design and easy usability, optimised service becomes increasingly important in this field, because by providing outstanding service the manufacturer can offer the customer another additional benefit.

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