Create Tomorrow, The WGSN Podcast

This week Bethan Ryder talks with Beauty experts Hannah Mauser, Sienna Piccioni and Brielle Saggese about the huge trend right now for celebrity owned beauty brands. From Pharrell to Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Kardashian to Kate Moss, and even Stella McCartney, it seems like you're not an A-Lister right now without your very own skincare range. At the time of publishing we hear Brad Pitt has also launched a genderless skincare line. But how does this differ from the celebrity endorsements of the past? What role has social media played in the boom? And which brands do we see chiming with WGSN's trend forecasts for the future? 

Denim is a fashion category which is so intrinsically linked to lifestyle both from a practicality point of view, but also in terms of cultural and social identity - people are passionate about their jeans so when we see new trends shaking things up the impact is significant. Denim had a tough time during the pandemic. As we all went into that first lockdown we quickly slid into slouch - the move to sweatpants was overnight and many feared the denim category wouldn’t recover, but recover it did - almost as soon as lockdowns lifted, and it’s projected to continue growing with Allied Market Research projecting it to hit $88.1bn by 2030 but the denim industry post-pandemic looks very different to the one we knew and loved. In this episode the team discusses everything from fit cycle data, TikTok and Y2K brand influencers, to sustainability and new fabric innovation.

In this episode Bethan Ryder WGSN's Executive Editorial Director is joined by Director of Food and Drink Jen Creevy, Head of Food and Drink Claire Lancaster and WGSN Insight Strategist Brielle Saggese to discuss drinks trends across the demographics from Boomers to Gen Z.  The conversation began by reminiscing about their favourite cocktails of the 80s and 90s and how the general mood of nostalgia that was sparked by the pandemic has trickled into the drinks market.

This week WGSN CEO Carla Buzasi is joined by travel trailblazer Robin Hutson: OBE, Chairman of The Pig hotels, sustainability champion and officially the UK's second most powerful hotelier. If you've been lucky enough to visit any of his destinations that dot the south of England, you'll know that these boutique retreats are famous for their amazing food and gorgeous interiors, but there's a lot more to their success than just what they look like.

This week WGSN Business Development Manager Sam Boakye and Insight Strategist Mel Larsen talk to British writer, curator and broadcaster Ekow Eshun about his new exhibition "In The Black Fantastic" now showing at London’s Hayward Gallery. Ekow has been described as a ‘cultural polymath’ by The Guardian, he is chairman of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, overseeing the most prestigious public art programme in the UK, and the former Director of the ICA, London. He is the author of critically lauded books Black Gold of the Sun, Africa State of Mind, and, most recently In the Black Fantastic.  At WGSN part of our STEPIC methodology that we use in our trend forecasting includes looking at culture and creativity, and so in that vein we invited Ekow on the show to talk about the exhibition and accompanying book. We spoke more widely about themes of The Black Fantastic vs Afrofuturism, the power of speculative film and fiction, the relevance of artists from Chris Ofili to Beyonce in expressing the Black experience and the concept of double consciousness.

This is the concluding episode of our Milan Design Week Special series in which we’ve explored some of the key trends and brought you insights and interviews from the 2022 edition, which incidentally was the 60th anniversary for the fair that began it all Salone del Mobile. In this episode the WGSN team discuss Craft Renaissance, a trend that seems to run and run, where we see traditional craftsmanship and artisanal skills are renewed for a contemporary audience.

This is the third in our series of shorter episodes in which we bring you some of the key trends, insights and interviews from Milan Design Week 2022. In today's episode the WGSN team discuss the Inclusivity and Wellbeing trend. Installations and products that were about designing for inclusivity and that raised awareness around diversity and mental health were a key focus at this year's event.

This is the second in our series of episodes in which we bring you some of the key trends, insights and interviews from Milan Design Week 2022.  In this episode, Bethan Ryder WGSN Executive Editorial Director is joined by Director of Interiors Lisa White and Head of Interiors Gemma Riberti as we explore our Updated Icons trend. In this episode we focus on an interview with designer Tom Dixon.

Over the next four days our Interiors experts will be bringing you key trends, insights and interviews from Milan Design Week. Our Trends report lists 13 trends you need to know from Milan Design Week, in this short series of podcasts we’ll cover four of those trends. Expect to hear from design world luminaries from Faye Toogood to Jonathan Anderson and Tom Dixon, plus exciting emerging designers such as Krill Design and the team behind the Huggable Chair, fantastic examples of circular and inclusive designs. Our first trend is Nature First.

Following the pandemic many professionals around the world are still combining remote and office working. What’s more it’s looking good for productivity. PepsiCo research found that when given more flexibility, and when given a hybrid option, they see an in 15% increase in productivity and 31% less absenteeism. So what does this more fluid, flexible working future mean for people, brands and businesses? That’s what we explore in this episode; from the tech we are likely to demand and adopt, to the type of environments and interior spaces required to tempt us back into the workplace for those meaningful collaborative moments. Will holograms serve to bring us closer to remote-working colleagues? Will biophilic design keep us feeling nurtured and build company loyalty? And what’s the great reset? Tune in to find out what the future holds for the workplace and where the product design opportunities might lie for brands and businesses.