Back for Design Indaba Festival 2018 in Johannesburg and Cape Town, trend guru Li Edelkoort’s annual forecast seminar will reveal three critical future trends that will affect business and culture

Design Indaba 2018 once again sees internationally celebrated trend guru Li Edelkoort sharing her invaluable insights. Held as a stand-alone seminar, Edelkoort’s trend forecast presentation has become one of the most anticipated items on the annual Design Indaba Festival offering.

TRENDS & TEXTILES – Marble Female Figure. Period: Final Neolithic, Date: 4500–4000 B.C., Culture: Cycladic, Medium: Marble, Dimensions: H. 8 7/16 in. (21.4 cm), Classification: Stone Sculpture, Credit Line: Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971, Accession Number: 1972.118.104, Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art 

This year’s seminar will be held in both Johannesburg and Cape Town, and is set to take place at the LISOF: Fashion Design School & Retail Education Institute on 19 February 2018 and Artscape Theatre Centre on Saturday 24 February 2018 respectively. Attendees from across the country will get the opportunity to hear from the internationally renowned Dutch trend forecaster and discover how trends – from fashion, style, colour palettes and fabrics to design concepts and more – are emerging in a world in transition.

In keeping with the Design Indaba’s aim of making a positive impact on society by building a movement that attracts producers of meaningful culture and business, Edelkoort’s seminar unpacks themes that find inspiration in the natural world; from finding spiritual expression in domestic design to the exploring the manifestation of the goddess in fashion trends. Three main themes that span three spheres of design will be explored.

Photo by Daniel Costa (Spiritual House)

Firstly, Edelkoort will highlight how trends for home and lifestyle design will focus on the spiritual; in response to a world in transition, the home environment becomes a sanctuary, an escape, a refuge and a comfort.

A profound search for simplicity, tenderness and humanity will pervade the spiritual home in which our relationship to furniture, objects, materials and colors will gently shift.

– Li Edelkoort

As an extension of lifestyle from the home into the world, activewear for Spring/Summer 2019 features prominently. “A sudden shift in the wind will mark a change in color, welcoming a family of beiges as the backbone of the summer season, with bright accents that are taken directly from nature.” says Edelkoort. This will be seen most directly in footwear through the merging of garments and accessories that play between the urban and the outdoor.

ACTIVEWEAR – The Elephant. Photo by San Diego Zoo.

Finally, Edelkoort will explore the role of the goddess movement in a turnaround in fashion. “The days of normcore and streetwise basics seem to evaporate in the face of a revolution in shape and making,” says Edelkoort. The most important part, Edelkoort says, is to find your own goddess and express inner divinity through majestic fabrics and regal colors.

Photo by Daniel Costa (Spiritual House)

By exploring how human needs and desires translate into designed environments and interactive expression through fashion, Li Edelkoort’s seminar is sure to expose, uplift and inspire – as always!

In Johannesburg, the seminar starts at 08h30 and has three sessions and a short break, finishing at 12h30. In Cape Town, the seminar will take place at the Theatre venue at the Artscape. The talk starts at 09h00, with three sessions and a short break, finishing at 13h00.

Tickets for both seminars are available from webtickets, and cost R715 per person. It is essential to book in advance, particularly as the Li Edelkoort sessions are sell-out events. To book, click here: bit.ly/FashionTrendsetterLiEdelkoort

Tickets are R 715 per person and can be purchased through Webtickets.

For updates on the Design Indaba Festival of Creativity 2018, Li Edelkoort’s seminar and for ticketing information please visit www.designindaba.com/festival