50 AUTUMN//WINTER 2017 THE team at Scarlet Opus works with retailers and manufacturers in many sectors including stationery. They come to us for in-depth information about the future wants, needs and desires of people. They want to know what will be in fashion for the world of interiors two to three years before it happens.  People refer to what we do in many ways: trend intelligence, trend forecasting, futurism and other wonderful names. I guess the idea has been to make it sound desirable, intriguing and interesting, but in my experience, these descriptive terms have done more to put business owners off engaging with trends than doing so. That’s a great pity because trend intelligence, used correctly, grows and sustains business. Even the word ‘trend’ can become an issue for some who interpret it as meaning something fleeting, short-term, or even a fad! Let’s set aside the need to have a title for what ‘it’ is, and instead look only at what ‘it’ can do. Changing uncertainty into positive opportunity, leveraging trend intelligence correctly is one of the most powerful business tools available. Integrating it into a company’s long-term strategy creates valuable competitive advantages. Knowing what is coming next in your market sector helps you to de-risk innovation and drive growth. Trend intelligence informs marketing strategy, merchandising, store design, NPD programmes and workplace design. It causes significant improvement to brand awareness, revenue generation and reduces the cost of running a business. So how does it work for the stationery industry? Here’s an example of how a trend can be used to grow a stationery sector business, relating it to fashion, interiors and lifestyles: at the London Stationery Show in 2016, Scarlet Opus presented three design trends that we said would begin to emerge in the Spring/Summer of 2017. All three translated well across fashion, interiors and stationery, enabling the consumer to make complimentary purchases for a satisfying overall experience. One of these trends was particularly relevant for stationery and will continue to be so throughout 2017 and into 2018; we called that trend ‘Analogue Workshop.’ ‘Analogue Workshop’ is a trend story because the virtual and digital make life feel fleeting and temporary. This is driving some consumers to reach for that which can be constant and grounded. We might call this digital detox: a celebration of low-tech, analogue, everyday product. We can also describe the trend as finding beauty in the ordinary, satisfaction in the basic, valuing simple pleasures and admiring slowly acquired skills. Last year we forecast a renewed interest in ‘learning by experience’ and ‘earned know-how’. This year, we can see this interest in all areas of our lives beginning to gather momentum and popularity. The trend’s look is new-retro, a 1950s-style influence. But stronger than this is a new appreciation of everyday materials. People are studying how these materials can be worked together. Products made with precision, that have the appearance of having been made lovingly in a small workshop; Trend forecaster at Scarlet Opus, PHIL POND, explains how the stationery industry can benefit from using trend intelligence. BACK TO THE FUTURE ANALOGUE WORKSHOP IS ATREND STORY BECAUSE THEVIRTUAL AND DIGITAL MAKE LIFE FEEL FLEETING AND TEMPORARY. Chase andWonder Notable Designs