SPRING//SUMMER 2018 71 70 SPRING//SUMMER 2018 IT’S AMAZING that by the time you read this we will be in March, and the year’s trends will be quite clear, be they design trends or the socio-economic trends that will influence what we want to buy. As retailers and suppliers our role will be to decide which trends are relevant to our customers and how we can tap into this to maximise the opportunity it presents for us. Trade show organisers have done the same, by thinking about retail buyers as their customers, identifying which exhibitors we want to see, who will have new relevant products for our customers, and what we want to know about trends and services, and how they can help us access useful information and content which will in turn encourage us to visit their shows. Understanding trends only becomes useful if you know who your customers are, and therefore appreciate the relevance of a trend to those same customers. Just as retailers are working hard to attract customers into their stores or online, so are the show organisers as they compete for a retailer’s precious time out of their businesses. Supplying additional content that adds value to a show visit is key, particularly for smaller businesses who cannot afford to bring in specialist help or justify expensive magazine subscriptions. Top Drawer is aimed at buyers looking for creative, lifestyle products and as such it is important that any extra content appeals to that audience. They are doing a great job in tapping into the add-ons their visitors need to justify their time there. They do this by creating curated trails, offering trend display areas, hosting seminars like Paperfest and showing the award winners of the PaperAwards adjacent to their relevant product areas, where the target retailers can find them easily, creating maximum impact for all involved. Paperworld is renowned for its Trend Show in the foyer between Halls 5.1 and 6.1, and I have been known to visit the show almost exclusively for the insights they collate here. The Trend Show curates all the leading looks and presents them in imaginative lifestyle displays. Each item shows the exhibitor name and stand number, so the time-pressed visitor can quickly draw up a shortlist of products and exhibitors they can’t afford to miss. As well as providing clear trends to help buyers keep their stock exciting and fresh, the area offers fantastic ideas for retailers who want to display products imaginatively. For example, I liked the way Mark’s ‘Dot On’ sheets and sticker dots were used to create a striking piece of art: the retailer wins because it looks good in a display, the customer benefits HENRI DAVIS pounds the aisles of 2018’s first trade shows to search out the trends customers will adore something for everyone from the stylized fun of I Love Birds from Artfile to the elegant Sara Miller range from Blueprint, both adding strong new designs into the stationery mix this spring. In terms of design and cover materials, glitter certainly seems to be in. With stunning product shown by GO Stationery, Graphique and Dotty About Paper it would be fair to say that GO Stationery’s range called All That Glitters is well named. While we are seeing some changes in emphasis in the stationery on offer now, humour, happiness and laughing still play an important part and the Wiffley Waffley range from Really Good will certainly brighten up many displays and have us laughing as we get tongue-tied trying to say it. WE KNOWTHAT CUSTOMERS ARE LIKELYTO BE SPENDING LESSTHISYEAR, SO ANYTHINGTHEY ARE BUYING NEEDSTO BE A FUNCTIONAL, NOT GRATUITOUS PURCHASE. BUTTHAT DOESN’T MEAN IT HASTO BE DULL. STATIONERY BIZ TRADE SHOW SPOTLIGHT: WHAT’S ON TREND because they see what they can do with the products in store. Paperworld identified and labelled three key trends this year. ‘Minimal + Excellent’ celebrates the hand-made, gender-neutral luxury exemplified by the graphic wrap of Berlin-based Haferkorn & Sauerbrey and hand-stitched gold coloured notebooks from Favini. The colour palette was zingy and upbeat in the trend Paperworld called ‘Spirit + Ambition’ featuring primary colours, monochrome graffiti and lots of hand-lettered designs and sketches. In the trend ‘Work + Challenge’, flexible furniture modules that create a workspace that feels more like home than an office feature earthy accents in natural materials like leather and felt. Mdf, once a no-no, is now a design feature, along with chipboard and melamine. The uncertainty around Brexit, increasing inflation reducing disposable incomes and potential job insecurity are all are fuelling the need for people to keep in touch, making sure they remember special occasions and generally stay connected. At Top Drawer there was a lot of social stationery, with a focus on lovely substrates and plenty of florals, including gorgeous notecards in the Esme Winter range designed in collaboration with artist Lucy Augé and a beautiful new birthday calendar in Laura Stoddart’s Blooms range. At Spring Fair I saw some lovely bags of invitations from Dotty about Paper. The organza bags made the product look very special and reasonably priced, too. We know that customers are likely to be spending less this year, so anything they are buying needs to be a functional, not gratuitous purchase. But that doesn’t mean it has to be dull. Portico Designs’ new Mini Moderns range is a good example, with an innovative set of products carrying wonderful designs. Museums & Galleries have recognised that customers are going to want their stationery to be special and have introduced a range using designs from Roger Gilmore. Products linked to recording spending, thoughtfulness and goals, organisation and redressing work/life balance will be important. Graphique has several new ranges, including some stylish journals and an organisational system called Franklin Covey, an American system widely used as a management tool. Licensing is still very evident in the stationery market and there is UNDERSTANDINGTRENDS ONLY BECOMES USEFUL IFYOU KNOW WHO YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE,ANDTHEREFORE APPRECIATETHE RELEVANCE OF A TRENDTOTHOSE SAME CUSTOMERS. Minimal + Excellent display at PaperworldTrend Show 2018 Laura Stoddart Dotty about Paper Portico Designs Museums & Galleries Really Good Sara Miller EsmeWinter GO Stationery