Victoria Redshaw is CEO at Scarlet Opus, a leading trend forecasting and design firm. She has been a visitor at INDEX in the past but is more excited about the show's facelift this year. The star speaker's specialisation, however, raised some burning questions in most minds. In a conversation with InsideOut, Redshaw eases our befuddled brains.
"I think it's a pretty common misconception that it's crystal ball gazing," says Redshaw. "Or that trend forecasters get together in a darkened room a couple of times a year to decide what the trends are going to be. Or that maybe we wait to see what happens with the catwalk shows and translate that information to interiors. But it's none of the above."
Redshaw believes trend forecasting to be a social science. "We're looking at what is happening in society from a global perspective. The entire procedure is like baking a cake - making something that is layered and then putting the layers together," says Redshaw. A fair amount of research is collected, starting ironically from the past.
"We look to the last forecast as trends don't come about for no apparent reason. They emerge and are reinforced for definite reasons." Next step is a look at known future events over the next couple of years, such as gallery and museum exhibitions, major sporting events, political elections and social change. "It might even be transport developments… we study all these subjects." And the last step is to fold in the present with the rest of the ingredients. "The questions we would ask for example, are, ‘Will swine flu need to be fed into the forecast since it has a global effect? Will there be a political outcome that is unexpected and needs to be folded in?' The research collected consists of hundreds of pieces of information. We look for threads that tie those pieces and when we find common ties, we've got our trends." Quite a complicated and comprehensive procedure, and more than crystal ball gazing, that's for sure.
It seems logical then for trends to differ in various parts, regions and cultures of the world. But Redshaw explains that trends are global and derived from global sources. They are, however, adaptable.
Clearly these predictions are far from guesswork. We are curious to know what Redshaw deems is the current ongoing trend. "Right now, there is a strong folkloric trend, which is a good example of how a trend can be adapted globally. Folklore and folk styling actually tie nations together." Redshaw explains that with the economic downturn, people are looking for commonalities across the world that also relate to old values, customs and heritage. "We look back because we're a bit nervous about looking forward at the moment. We don't know what the future holds and we're looking to find things that are reassuring, tie us together and say, ‘we're all neighbours, we're all connected'."
When asked about her opinion on Dubai's design world, Redshaw is candid but hopeful. "Dubai has been guilty in the past of using an obvious, ostentatious design style and mimicking international ones. There was a scary period where it seemed Dubai was building itself to be any American, futuristic, very modern city. More recently, there has been a shift away from that and a step towards building its own identity." Redshaw recognises a more sophisticated approach to design solutions here with successful fusions of local styling alongside international modern ones. "I think this is the way forward for Dubai. That it retains its identity and regional heritage qualities. And layer these into its international contemporary style." This, according to Redshaw, will create a style unique to Dubai, which is exciting, influential and inspirational within itself. The world will then take Dubai as a design reference point within its own right.
Redshaw believes that Dubai is on that path, but is only just beginning to go down there. She recommends bigger libraries and better resources to encourage local design talent. Design schools would need to be developed further and have better financing, and local skills enhanced. Then there would not necessarily be a need to call in celebrity names from Europe and America.
Redshaw will be demonstrating the trend forecasting process at INDEX Design Talks.
