The Forecast Club - how it all happend

In a few days a new kind of trend seminar will roll out. It is all about The Forecast Club and here is the back story.

Every passion project has a story, and today I’m excited to share mine. Meet The Forecast Club—a space born out of curiosity, collaboration, and a little bit of necessity.

Where It All Began

I’ve been working with trends since the early 2000s. As a freelancer, my work has taken me to fascinating places, introduced me to brilliant people, and allowed me to constantly ask: what’s next? Which trends are shaping the future? What will matter in the coming years?

It’s a thrilling line of work, but here’s the catch: it can also be incredibly lonely. Gathering impressions, analyzing patterns, and forming ideas is exhilarating—but often, it’s just me and my thoughts. And sometimes, you need someone to challenge those thoughts, sharpen them, or simply say, “Yes, I see it too.”

Building a Network of Thinkers

In Sweden, I’ve been lucky to have a circle of experts from different fields—food, tech, colour, statistics, and more. They’ve been my sounding board, the people I test ideas with before publishing a new trend report. But something was missing: a broader community of peers who live and breathe trends just like I do.

Planting the Seed

Two years ago, I decided to change that. I reached out to trend experts around the world with a simple proposal: what if we created a space where, twice a year, we opened our books and shared our notes?

The idea was never about competing, but about collective intelligence. Were we spotting the same shifts? Could someone bring a sharper example? Or even better—could we challenge each other’s perspectives and refine them together?

And So, The Forecast Club Was Born

What started as a question has now grown into a movement. The Forecast Club is that long-missing forum: a space for connection, collaboration, and forward-looking conversations.

It’s still evolving—like all good ideas—but at its heart, it’s about this: making sense of the future together. And now on September 10 we are launching our first joint trend seminar.

One Voice, One Country

From the start, I wanted to keep the format tight. Just one trend expert per country. Why not more? Because the point is to bring in local flavor. Each of us adds a unique cultural lens, rooted in the places we live and work.

Of course, it began with people I already knew: Susanna from Finland, an old friend; Elisabetta from Italy, a close collaborator. And then new voices joined in too—like Xiaojing from Shanghai and Jan from Amsterdam.

There’s also another rule: everyone should work the way I do. Independent, freelance, on your own. Not part of a big agency or studio. And like me, they should spend their time creating reports for clients, writing for magazines, or speaking in public. That way, we all come from the same kind of practice—hands-on, curious, and deeply personal.

We have been meeting with loose format over two years. We are now eight people and more coming in. We still talk and share ideas. But in spring I felt we should all come together and do a joint seminar. All eight.

Everyone is unique in their own field. Someone is more into fashion. Someone more inte colours. One into societal changes and sustainability.

With this seminar you can cherrypick what you want. Maybe only get an update on CMF (colour, materials, finishing) or a report on the latest innovation in retail. Or all eight seminars.

How to impress seven trend experts when they are in Stockholm

I managed to get seven of us together and Chinese Xiaojing participated digitally. Eight people and eight seminars.

Elisabetta Rizzato (@italianbark) from Italy

Susanna Björklund (@enne_susannab) from Finland

Cecile Poignant (@cecilepoignant) from France

Judith van Vliet (@judith_color_designer) from Spain

Jan Agelink (@jantrendman) from the Netherlands

Xiaojing Huang (@xiaojinghiúangdesigntrends) from China

Alina Schartner (@alinaschrtner) from Austria

And me.

It was a great and intense day with recording of everyone.

But we did so much more than just a seminar. It is of course also important to share and care about other things.

Me being a former tourist guide did a bit of sightseeing of Stockholm

And we stopped at Trendgruppen. It was nice to see some excellent Swedish design here. But it is also interesting to this crowd to see another brand I founded together with Karin in 2007.

Also a nice presentation of Swedish brand Printworks.

And if there is ONE person these people are starstruck by – it is Tekla Severin, or also known as Teklan. That really impressed.

And where do you go for dinner with these trendexperts? To my house, of course. First night we stayed at my appartment with Juli and my other half Peter who cooked.