This document summarizes trends observed for the Habitat-Valencia furniture and home goods retailer in Spain. It identifies several key values and approaches:
1. Products that emphasize longevity, transparency to consumers, autonomy, and good investment through qualities like durability, customization, and timelessness rather than trends.
2. Distinctiveness and exclusivity are justified by combining artisanal know-how with creative reinterpretation by designers.
3. Emphasis on "good design" where objects improve lives by being useful and built to last.
4. A preference for simple, austere but functional and creative solutions to consumerism rather than conspicuous luxury.
4. •The longevity of the product
•Transparency towards the end user
•Products that give autonomy to the consumer
•Products that are a good investment
• Distinctiveness & exclusivity has to be
justified
Key values:
5. New Cl assi cs
Subl i me
by hand
The
Essent i al s
Basi k & Raw
*A new way of understanding exclusivity,
combining the know how of the artisan and the
creative re-interpretation of the designer.
Products have a personality, a history and an
ancient wisdom.
*The importance of “good design”: objects and
products are here to last, improve our lives and “be
useful”.
*Proposes simple and austere aesthetics with but
functional and creative solutions to consumerism.
*Luxury is less about showing off and more about
quality and excellence.
The consumers look for value that can be justified.
The Observtorio de Tendencias del Habitat has been working since 2006 in the observation, analysis and study of the trends centered in the habitat. To gain knowledge about how people live, their life styles, their needs and the environment where they live is essential to be able to design objects and services which respond effectively to consumers’ needs.
The observatory is formed by three research and technology institutes and supported by the Generalitat Valenciana.
OTH believes in an ample understanding of what trends are, studying depth the reasons behind them: learning about the concepts behind each design and the reasons for them to exist and the needs which they cover.
OTH offers workshops, seminars, ad hoc consultancy and publications.
Journals are biannual and every other year OTH publishes a monographic, 2009’s explored the changes in the concept of family and how this influences the living environment.
I am pleased to present here the latest journal, reviewing the previous trends and analyzing the current situation, scanning the market in search for the new and its potential projection to the future.
The habitat has suffered modifications in the last few years which are a reflection of socio cultural changes.
Moderation and rationalization when it comes to consuming are key to the current trends. Even if this may appear initially as negative, it has also set a new framework of opportunities and possibilities. Consumers have redefine their needs, preferences and desires and the cycle has become more natural, slower and reflective. The need for exclusivity and sophistication are explored through other routes such as crafts or limited editions.
These changes are understood in the design of the habitat through different values: longevity, transparency (values ought to be clear, coherent, believable), products and services which give autonomy to the end user (practical products), products which remain stable (a good investment), and the “distinctiveness” of a product, its uniqueness has to be justifiable.
Out of the seven trends identified by OTH in the current journal, four have a craft element to them: New classics, Sublime by hand, The essentials, Basik and Raw, all relate to the durability, honesty, labor and wisdom associated with craft.
The key inter-related aspects common to these trends:
Craftsmanship as tailoring and the crafts person as a tailor creating highly skilled pieces costumed to the costumer
The investment in the products
The relationship created between the maker and the costumer.
El pasado 30 de enero, San Ginés concluía el último envío y a principios de febrero comenzó la instalación en la fachada oeste del complejo arquitectónico que será
inaugurado en el mes de abril. Un total de nueve operarios han llevado a cabo el trabajo, que ha requerido la utilización de una compleja maquinaria, como grúas tijera,
elevadorea y camiones grúa para acceder a la parte más alta de la composición.
San Ginés envió a Orán 52.544 azulejos, pero en el montaje final la cifra se ha reducido sensiblemente a 51.392, con una dimensión definitiva de 58,4 metros de ancho por 34,4
de largo. El equipo que ha trabajado en la instalación valora también que el proceso ha culminado con un margen escasísimo de roturas de unidades, todo un éxito, ya que sólo
ha habido que reponer 14 azulejos.
En cuanto a la colocación, una pletina de aluminio sujeta cada unidad cerámica en unos rieles y para aumentar la seguridad se utiliza un pegamento especial entre la cerámica y
el aluminio y entre el aluminio y el riel. El montaje permite contemplar la obra en toda su extensión, lo que para San Ginés y todo el equipo que ha participado en la realización supone un gran orgullo después de dos meses de intenso trabajo.
El reto de construir el mural de cerámica más grande del mundo está a punto de lograrse y se está haciendo en Castilla-La Mancha. El la ciudad de la cerámica por antonomasia, en Talavera de la Reina, un grupo de talleres junto a la Cerámica Artística San Ginés está a falta de unas horas para concluir el mural del Centro de Convenciones de la ciudad de Orán, un trabajo que va a poner la cerámica de Talavera en la escena internacional.
MÓNICA GARCÍA DEL PINO, COORDINADORA DEL PROYECTO: Y el principio de un futuro yo creo que estupendo, para la artesanía, y en concreto para la cerámica. Yo creo que se abre una expectativa muy favorecedora para el sector y estamos todos muy animados, ha sido una puerta abierta al mundo.
Después de conocer el interés que ha despertado en puntos tan dispares como Australia o algunos países africanos, el presidente Barreda ha anunciado que su Ejecutivo está estudiando beneficiar a los proyectos de obra pública que incluyan cerámica. Lo adelantaba después de visitar al taller donde se está realizando este gigantesco mural.
JOSÉ MARÍA BARREDA: Es que podamos incentivar el sector desde la obra publica y que cuando licitemos edificios donde se pueda utilizar la cerámica, que lo valoremos para que los constructores, para que los arquitectos, para aquellos que pujen para quedarse con el proyecto sepan, que si introducen la cerámica de Talavera en el mismo, tendrán más posibilidades de conseguirlo.
El mural está compuesto por 55.000 azulejos en barro rojo, con unas dimensiones de 60X35 metros. Los trabajos comenzaron a principios de noviembre y ya han salido 12.500 azulejos hacia Orán por transporte marítimo.
Based Upon is a London based company working with a technology of application of liquid metal (axolotol). They produce furniture, surfaces and art pieces hand made and often tailored to the clients, involving them in different stages of the design and production of the piece and providing a certificate of provenance on delivery.
Soojin Kang looks at traditional materials and crafts and explores the emotional relationship between an object and a person with emphasis on the hand made. The knitted upholstery in this chair can be continuously knitted by the user.
Katherine May creates quilts and upholstery with patchwork. The textiles are often recycled from old garments. One of her most recent projects was a commission for Liberties produced with old clothing provided by Liberties’ workers.
In homage to the Swiss Alps and its culture, this piece was made with Swiss artisans using lace making with silk and cotton and it took 200 hours of labor.
Completing the Moroso M' Afrique collection are a sofa, an armchair and a chair, featuring outstretched volumes and curves reminiscent of animal and plant shapes. Exuberant bulges bring to mind sumptuous olden-time British seating. High quality weaving by skilled Senegalese craftsmen who ably give depth to the weave, giving the impression of a fabric that, in the armrests, seems to billow in the wind.
The idea is to alter people's traditional perception of woven furniture, overstating profiles and dimensions. The result is a sofa, an armchair and a chair that are asymmetrical, comfortable, open and generous, contemporary in shape and surprising to behold. The lightness of the structure, the tension of the weave and the ethereal appearance convey a living, breathing, vital image, something close to an animal or plant form: a bird taking flight, or a blossoming flower.”
Dominique Pétot