And it was all yellow (and green)

Design isn’t just the career of Stuart CIa rkson, he confesses it to also be his hobby and over-riding passion in life. He has been responsible for product, showroom, exhibition and display designs for the likes of PWS and Moores. And most recently, Stuart has worked on furniture projects with Mark Wilkinson, Uber Furniture and Uform. His 24-year career in product design, together with relationships with component and paper suppliers, has seen him able to accurately identify kitchen and bathroom furniture trends. So, we ask him about his business of design consultancy and encourage him to forecast the next fashion for furniture.

So, how would you best describe your company, Stuart?

It’s a design consultancy and our key areas are product design and interior design. We cover all the main areas for the furniture industry and, basically, we are designing for companies all around the world. We’ve been designing handles, lighting, wirework, door ranges and furniture for key suppliers. I have also worked with Mark Wilkinson and, most recently, kitchen furniture manufacturer Uform on its product and showroom designs. My dream is also to design my own furniture, as well as to design for other people, and that is the next stage in my business plan for 2010.

How significant is trend spotting for your design work?

As part of my work, I produce trend boards. I go to a lot of exhibitions and even do research into car design; into architecture and compile all these together into mood boards. These show companies what is happening trend- wise, globally, and how they all interact. When you talk to car designers, they are looking at architecture for inspiration. When you talk to fashion designers, they are looking for their inspiration other areas as well, It’s a big circle, I produce style boards, to help marketing teams show their management board the reasons they should be launching a ‘white’ range, for example. What are the key shows for you to identify trends? Obviously, Eurocucina is very important because it’s not just about the exhibition, itself. You can also go to all the showrooms arou Milan. There’s so much going on in Milan, with all the workshops and trend discussions and seminars taking place. The German shows for furniture, such as MOW, later in the year are important for me. This is when all the German guys get to open up their showrooms and you canal walk around the factories. It’s not exhibition but more like an open house in Northern Germany. For components ZOW is a big show lnterzum is still good. Italy seems to be epicentre of furniture trends, but why? The Germans are good at mechanical things, such as engineering. But the Italians are good at putting colours together and often put combinations together you wouldn’t think of doing. They just seem to have a natural flair for style. How much of a science is furniture trend prediction? Well, I deal with all the MFC and paper suppliers, so I’m constantly talking to them. I don’t work for them but they ask me for ideas and what I think they should be doing because we’ve known each other for years. So I will get asked by people, such as Egger, for my feedback on the decors they are going to launch. When you’re in the industry, you see all these things going on and you know what’s going to be coming next. So, what is coming next? Colour wise, for doors, we are getting brighter colours coming through. Because of the global economy it’s been a bit doom and gloom for the last two years, hasn’t it? The recession did put a lot of product development on hold and it has slowed down the world market. So, this year, everyone is trying to put joy back into things, to give warmth, new feeling and new life. We’ve had brighter colours featuring in furniture for a few years now but it hasn’t really been picked up by consumers, perhaps apart from glosses. But, this year, they’ll be a palette of grey whether it’s grain woodgrains or grey block colours which is going to be the background colour for a lot of kitchen furniture, bedrooms and for bathrooms. But it will be brightened with an injection of colour. What will be the ‘must-have’ accent colour for 2010? Basically, it is going to be yellows and greens. They are really going to be the ones that are going to feature. In the past, there’s been different shades of orange, pinks and all sorts of things. But it’s going to be yellow and green finishes that come through. The greens will be quite natural and those will be the key colours mixed with these grey tones. The paper people and the board people have done a lot of work on grey tones for launches as plain colours, not just for doors but also for carcasses. Is the kitchen industry getting more trend driven? Going back 15-20 years it was all porridge, porridge and porridge and maybe whites. But that was it! Now it really is quite a fashion driven area. Everyone wants the gadgets and people are also prepared to pay for wirework and the drawer systems. All the things that go behind the kitchen that people weren’t really bothered about before they now want to know about. They want to know about the hinges and the type of drawer systems. There are so many different options for people, as well, and they are readily available. What trends would you like to see coming through? One of the materials I would like to see more use of is bamboo. I’ve been an advocate of bamboo for years and I’ve been pushing it because it’s such an environmentally-friendly product. You’re not chopping down trees; it’s a grass that grows at about 0.3m a day. Manufacturers just don’t seem to have picked up on it that well, especially in the furniture market. There’s about 1 ,400 different species of bamboo and when you put it together as a worktop or a piece of furniture, it’s harder than wood. It’s completely water resistant, so you can put it in a shower cubicle. And in Asia, they even use it for scaffolding it’s so strong and tough. But manufacturers are slowly starting to work with bamboo. PWS has had huge success with its bamboo worktops. SieMatic has used bamboo as a kitchen carcase and it’s even being featured as flooring, now, in B&Q and Wickes. Even Tesco has some bamboo coffee and sugar containers and fruit bowls. It’s such a versatile material.