A new start

Things are changing. And so am I. Here are some thoughts on design and writing.

Wednesday I read the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter and saw an article about journalism and critical thinking in the music industry. Writer Kristoffer Ahlström concludes that the music industry went through hard times in the early 2000s and changed from magazines to music blogs, sites and free magazines. More platforms and of course a competition to printed, old world, magazines. After almost 20 years these platforms have become tools for the PR industry to promote their view on music and artists. All content is monitored and controlled so that the correct messages are published. Despite that they are PR-tools, the platforms, regardless if they are a blog or a free magazine, are almost all labelled as “consumer information”.

This is of course sad, especially in a creative world where we now hear the same songs over and over at radio stations and lists on Spotify are generated by algorithms so that you only listen to the music you approve of.

Critical music writing has become obsolete or shallow. Or does simply not get published.

But what does the article want for the future? The answer according to the music industry is feedback. Honest and professional feedback. Just reporting that an artist launches something new isn’t enough. Consumption information for readers is not enough. We want more and deeper insight.

I believe that the design industry is going through the same things as the music industry. I think we can all see that…

I am very taken by how the design industry is behaving. I will not bore you with names but I am absolutely upset with the way we work with influencers, publishing press pictures or writing about PR driven projects without any hesitation. All in the name of consumer or consumption information. We are more interested in who sets a dinner table than who designed the tableware or the chair we sit in.

This blog has been around since 2006. And now I want to change. I want this blog to be better and to give better content.

I hope it can give you insights from the design industry. I hope this blog can give some relevant feedback. This means harder, better and more thought through thoughts. Here I will primarily talk about the tableware and the chair. If I talk about the person who sets the table, it is as a secondary layer.

This is not a manifesto. Or is it?

I will report about design exhibitions, emerging talents and of course small and large brands. But always with a critical feedback.

On this site you will not find tips on how to decorate your hallway, ideas on how to feng shui or how to make napkin ring. I am not saying this is wrong – just not here.

Trendstefan.se today has one author – me. The voice is mine. I own this. If I am the creator of a project and publish something here about it, I can of course not be too critical of my own work. I will talk about it here but make it clear that I am the creator and writer. Others are encouraged to write critically about my projects.

So, a few things are new. And there will be more to come. One thing is the language. I am more and more working in an international environment, so it is only fair for my international audience that I communicate in a language they hopefully understand. Hence my home-made pidgin English.

I also want to introduce a new section for where you can download trend reports from the fairs. Want to get a summary of Formex, Nordstil or Design Week in New York? Click the button and you will get all facts, colours and interesting exhibitions and brands. Selected by yours truly.

First report to be published is – Design Week of Milan 2018. Check out the section called Trend reports.