The Trendease Team travels to over 100 international design events each year to research market directions and report our findings back to our community.  With the first quarter of 2013 under our belts you can rest assured that there is a lot of exciting movement going on in the creative sphere, and that is not a side effect of jetlag speaking. Many designs fall under the umbrella of what I like to call Creative Social Responsibility. Targeted at design professionals, Creative Social Responsibility (CrSR) is a combination of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and what is known as The Triple Bottom Line (TBL): People, Planet, Profit.  This involves transparency and sustainability. Although we like to give people the benefit of the doubt, there are ample firms that will use smoke and mirrors to blind us into thinking that their product line is responsibly manufactured. The best tool against this is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).  If you do not have such robust information at your fingertips, the best weapon you hold is curiosity—ask questions!  Peel off the leaves of the artichoke until the beautiful purple of the center stares up at you; there lies the truth and the heart of the matter. They say that “curiosity killed the cat”, but worry not, they also say that cats have nine lives, so live a little.  After purring around some of this year’s exhibitions here are some on-trend products with an essence of feel-good design.

Jennifer Castoldi, Trendease

Jennifer Castoldi is the CEO and Chief Creative Director of Trendease International.  Since 2004, Trendease has been providing cutting-edge and competitive design information to readers spanning over 170 countries.  Trendease is an influential resource reporting on global trends and key international design events.  Hundreds of images and forward-thinking articles are presented on www.Trendease.com each month, additionally videos and podcasts are available on www.Trendease.TV.