The Floralists
TREND FORECASTING
At the 2012 Special Events, I was asked by Kelly Mace of Smithers-Oasis if I would be interested in submitting a proposal to the International Floral Distributors to be their Trends Forecaster for 2013 for their event & floral based trends forecast. I was honored that someone that I respect in the industry would even put my name forward for such a project - of course, I said yes. “Now what do I do” - I said to myself. I have been very fortunate in ‘predicting’ trends in the wedding and event industry just by keeping an open ear and most importantly an open mind to my clients, magazines, Home Decor trends, Paint trends and watching closely as the European market reveals their next year’s products. That is all well and good but, this was January 2012 and I was being asked to propose the floral
Sunday, February 3, 2013
trends for 2013; for the whole 2013; that was for a period of time 12-24 months in advance. This was never going to be a successful proposal by doing it alone. No - this needed another viewpoint - a professional in the field - Kristine Kratt AIFD, PFCI . Yes - this was all decided from the moment I was asked by Kelly Mace to the time I traversed the Show Floor to the SCHAFFER DESIGNS booth - about 2 minutes. Kris has been involved with overseas travels in product development for the floral industry for 10 years and her insight would be crucial to this process. Kris has worked in trend forecasting for some of our nation’s biggest box stores through to the
most exclusive boutique-styled shops. At the Special Events in 2012 we had already presented a program steeped heavily in fashion and trends and how it relates to the floral and event industry. That was our starting point. That was all it was. By the time we actually were in the throes of the project, we had already begun seeing huge shifts in the multi-industry mindset for upcoming products and colors.
We had begun research with what crops were being planted and were in line for availability to the floral designer. This is where fashion and practicality often collide. Just because you whole-heartedly believe in your research does not mean that the farms are planting flowers that will meet the trend colors. This is where hardgoods comes into play. You may not be able to readlily get blue and purple Dutch hydrangea 12 months a year but you can mix and match your flowers with some of the trendiest products in the colors that meet your ‘look’. Even when the product and the flowers need assistance there is always a company like Design Master that comes to the rescue to add the necessary accent of color that you need.
We started by creating mood board after mood board followed by rough draft after rough draft, sketches, recipes, logistics and a fair amount of instinct and just 3 months later we were ready to send in our proposal.
We did it! We were honored to be chosen as the 2013 Floral Trend Directors for the IFD - but - there is no time to rest - we are already plotting and planning what we are going to do in 2014. Stay Tuned ...
Bill Schaffer AIFD, AAF, PFCI
To view the
2013 IFD Floral Trend Forecast Video
go to:
http://www.flowertrendsforecast.com/index.php/video.html
To view the .pdf version of the
2013 IFD Floral Trend Forecast Brochure
go to:
http://www.flowertrendsforecast.com/index.php/Publications/flower-trends-2013.html
