Design Tradition: Bridging the Past to the Future
The Consulate General of the Netherlands, SF - Dutch Consolate
Truus Dokter of it fits! and Andrea Wiegman of Gloed, together with Marieke van der Poel and Tiila Abbitt from San Francisco based strategic trend consultancy, Proef, lead a collaborative discussion focused on consumer emotions and macro trends. This workshop will be applicable to all markets.Marieke van der Poel and her business partner Tiila Abbitt are the faces of San Francisco based collaborative strategic trend consultancy Proef. Proef focuses on strategic trends and consulting, initiating interactive creative thinking around market foresights, macro-to micro trends and color forecasting.Marieke has worked with major multi national marketing, fashion, consumer electronics and product design companies based on this coast and beyond, both in her previous capacity as a consultant for leading international trend forecasting company PeclersParis and as an independent consultant. Her experience ranges from macro trend translations for International marketing teams to ready-to use color and style consulting for all types of consumer products. Marieke has presented at major trade and marketing events in the US and has been featured by both local and international media. She is a frequent guest lecturer at major art colleges around the country.Currently based in San Francisco, Marieke has previously lived in Italy and The Netherlands, where she started her career in trend analysis and worked as an editor and consultant for Italian, English and Dutch magazines and fashion brands. With advanced degrees in literature, philosophy and fashion, Marieke combines her analytical skills with a profound knowledge of European and American culture, fashion and design.Both as a consultant and designer, Tiila Abbitt has had the pleasure of working with a wide array of multi-national companies. As the head of knitwear design at Margaret O’Leary, Tiila created and brought to market a new contemporary knitwear line. Her designs have been part of many fashion shows and were featured in multiple magazines, including WWD and California Apparel News. Having worked as an organic chef, Tiila has a passion for food and her craft beer pairings have made her a sought after speaker at events and in international media. Tiila has a broad background in fine art. Her masters degree in the field encompasses art history, photography, ceramics, video sculpture and fashion design.Proef is part of and a proud representative of ESP Trendlab, an international conglomerate of trend agencies. Clients include Samsung, Gregory Mountain Products and Cisco consumer products.it fits! is an agency based in the Netherlands that specializes in tracing, visualizing and describing trends across design, science, politics and economic fields. It was founded in 1997 by Truus Dokter, after she spent more than a decade working for corporate retailers and brands as a design manager, when she was asked to become an agent for the international trend forecasting agency PeclersParis. The combination of conceptual forecasting for PeclersParis and her hands-on fashion and home direction for it fits!, gives her great insight to market and consumer fluctuations. It has become her passion to analyze and describe the ever-changing spirit of the times in a clear, simple format. She writes a monthly column in the Dutch trend forecasting magazine Second Sight.For more than 13 years, Andrea Wiegman, from the agency Gloed, has been collecting and connecting trends as an editor/publisher and forecaster. She founded trend magazines Eye and Second Sight and worked for major publishing companies, including Prometheus/ Bert Bakker, VNU Business Publications, Quote, TTG and Springer. During those years she built an inspiring network of trend experts and original thinkers within the Netherlands and beyond. Trained as a historian, Andrea believes that change is part of our life, although the transition period that is currently taking place might be one we won’t easily forget. Impetuous shifts within technology, science, economics etc. are omnipresent: opportunities for new business and challenging lifestyles are everywhere. Gloed is specialized in tracing new lifestyles in a changing world.During brainstorm meetings of the magazine Second Sight Truus Dokter and Andrea Wiegman became “partners in thinking”: they both have unique ideas and are dedicated to being a part of the minds that are envisioning and shaping this new century. In October 2010 they will bring their network of international trend forecasters together by launching a new blog: “in contact with…”. . Through co-creation with their global contributors they will be able to provide “borderless” and customized trend information (lectures, presentation, education etc.).
