Create Tomorrow, The WGSN Podcast

2023 is just around the corner. In this episode, we divulge some of the top trends we are forecasting for next year. So, what can you expect in tech, interiors and what we’ll eat and drink next year and beyond? Get the answers here. Carla Buzasi is the host of this end-of-the-year show and her guests in this episode are Andrea Bell, VP of Consumer Insights, and Lisa White, Creative Director of WGS...

Andy Cato is an arable and livestock farmer and co-founder of WildFarmed. In this episode we hear about Andy’s journey from grammy-nominated musician, as one half of Groove Armada, to award-winning farmer and all round trailblazer trying to establish a more restorative and sustainable food system. Not just through actually farming, but also by creating a community of fellow farmers like him and by...

In this episode Bethan Ryder is joined by Director of Beauty Clare Varga, Head of Food and Drink Claire Lancaster and Director of Consumer Insight Joe McDonnell to address changing consumer behaviour in the light of the cost of living crisis and what brands can do to reassure and retain consumers in the months ahead. If you’re a WGSN subscriber you’ll find many reports covering the cost of living...

This week WGSN Editorial Director Bethan Ryder is joined by Reiko Morrison WGSN's Head of CMF and Benjamin Hubert, founder of the London-based industrial design agency Layer Design. Layer recently launched a monograph, published by Phaidon, during the London Design Festival which coincided with an exhibition which ran as part of the inaugural Material Matters fair. The book covers the various stag...

In anticipation of the release of WGSN’s Home Lifestyles 2025 white paper , Carla Buzasi sat down with creative director and director of interiors Lisa White to talk about the product opportunities for your business in the home of 2025 as it further evolves into a multipurpose place to work, unwind, exercise, educate the kids, entertain friends and so much more. Listening for a taster about this i...

This week WGSN's Director of Food and Drink Jen Creevy talks to co-founder and CEO of WhatIF Foods Chris Langwallner. WhatIF foods is a trailblazing business attempting to fix a broken food system by making daily staples like noodles and milk from nutritional, previously overlooked ingredients such as the Bambara nut. These crops are grown using regenerative practices and value chains as opposed t...

This week Bethan Ryder talks with Beauty experts Hannah Mauser, Sienna Piccioni and Brielle Saggese about the huge trend right now for celebrity owned beauty brands. From Pharrell to Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Kardashian to Kate Moss, and even Stella McCartney, it seems like you're not an A-Lister right now without your very own skincare range. At the time of publishing we hear Brad Pitt has also launch...

Denim is a fashion category which is so intrinsically linked to lifestyle both from a practicality point of view, but also in terms of cultural and social identity - people are passionate about their jeans so when we see new trends shaking things up the impact is significant. Denim had a tough time during the pandemic. As we all went into that first lockdown we quickly slid into slouch - the move...

In this episode Bethan Ryder WGSN's Executive Editorial Director is joined by Director of Food and Drink Jen Creevy, Head of Food and Drink Claire Lancaster and WGSN Insight Strategist Brielle Saggese to discuss drinks trends across the demographics from Boomers to Gen Z.  The conversation began by reminiscing about their favourite cocktails of the 80s and 90s and how the general mood of nost...

This week WGSN CEO Carla Buzasi is joined by travel trailblazer Robin Hutson: OBE, Chairman of The Pig hotels, sustainability champion and officially the UK's second most powerful hotelier. If you've been lucky enough to visit any of his destinations that dot the south of England, you'll know that these boutique retreats are famous for their amazing food and gorgeous interiors, but there's a lot m...

This week WGSN Business Development Manager Sam Boakye and Insight Strategist Mel Larsen talk to British writer, curator and broadcaster Ekow Eshun about his new exhibition "In The Black Fantastic" now showing at London’s Hayward Gallery. Ekow has been described as a ‘cultural polymath’ by The Guardian, he is chairman of the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, overseeing the most prestigious public...

This is the concluding episode of our Milan Design Week Special series in which we’ve explored some of the key trends and brought you insights and interviews from the 2022 edition, which incidentally was the 60th anniversary for the fair that began it all Salone del Mobile. In this episode the WGSN team discuss Craft Renaissance, a trend that seems to run and run, where we see traditional craftsma...

This is the third in our series of shorter episodes in which we bring you some of the key trends, insights and interviews from Milan Design Week 2022. In today's episode the WGSN team discuss the Inclusivity and Wellbeing trend. Installations and products that were about designing for inclusivity and that raised awareness around diversity and mental health were a key focus at this year's event.

This is the second in our series of episodes in which we bring you some of the key trends, insights and interviews from Milan Design Week 2022.  In this episode, Bethan Ryder WGSN Executive Editorial Director is joined by Director of Interiors Lisa White and Head of Interiors Gemma Riberti as we explore our Updated Icons trend. In this episode we focus on an interview with designer Tom Dixon.

Over the next four days our Interiors experts will be bringing you key trends, insights and interviews from Milan Design Week. Our Trends report lists 13 trends you need to know from Milan Design Week, in this short series of podcasts we’ll cover four of those trends. Expect to hear from design world luminaries from Faye Toogood to Jonathan Anderson and Tom Dixon, plus exciting emerging designers...

Following the pandemic many professionals around the world are still combining remote and office working. What’s more it’s looking good for productivity. PepsiCo research found that when given more flexibility, and when given a hybrid option, they see an in 15% increase in productivity and 31% less absenteeism. So what does this more fluid, flexible working future mean for people, brands and busin...

Michael Pawlyn is a biomimicry expert, TED talk star and founding director of the London-based practice Exploration Architecture, he is also co-author with Singapore-based urbanist, curator and writer Sarah Ichioka of the book Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency. Published just last year, it’s a persuasive read that tackles existing orthodoxies around sustainability and posits r...

As we read news reports of microplastics being present in human blood and the latest UN climate report issued by the IPCC reminded us that time has nearly run out to meet the 1.5°C warming target of the Paris Agreement, it’s clear we need to take drastic action in reducing plastic waste and our greenhouse gas emissions. So what alternatives are out there when it comes to wrapping up and protecting...

Toward the end of 2021, audio tech giant Sonos released its "Listen Better” report alongside a climate action plan in which is laid out its commitment to a more sustainable future for the business. A key figure driving this plan from within is Kitty Suidman whose role as Design Director of Product Sustainability at Sonos places her at the forefront of the brand’s drive to reduce its environmental...

WGSN has been tracking digital assets for many years now but we’re seeing a significant rise in the engagement across markets, regions, categories and consumer cohorts. Approximately 70% of Gen Z and Gen X global consumers rate their digital identity as important, meanwhile 65% rate digital ownership as important and more than 50% are interested in purchasing a digital asset in the next 12 months....

Curious about crypto? Join Andrea Bell, director of WGSN Insight, as she hosts this episode unpacking all things crypto, from Web3 and the Metaverse to NFTs. Tune in as she discusses these topics with WGSN experts Cassandra Napoli, Senior Strategist on Insight, and Sarah Housley Head of Consumer Tech, and what they mean for brands and consumers, plus some of our favourite examples of brands taking...

We’ve seen alternatives to meat and dairy products on the market for some time now, and the embracing of plant-based meat alternatives have sky-rocketed in the past few years, it is inevitable that this combination of culinary skills and scientific knowledge will play out across the food and drink space. WNWN Food Labs is just one of many new and exciting brands trying to forge ahead in this growi...

Wellness themes play a major part in our flagship report Big Ideas 2024 which has just landed on all our product design platforms. One of our most popular reports with clients, this report looks ahead to see how trends will shape what consumers need and want in two years’ time and we apply it to all of the industries we serve. Listen to find out what a bathfluencer is, why we’re becoming intereste...

Ramdane Touhami is a creative visionary, serial entrepreneur and the man behind global beauty brand Buly 1803, which he founded in 2014 with his wife and business partner Victoire de Taillac and sold in October last year to LVMH. Not a bad trajectory for the son of an apple picker who was himself homeless 25 years ago. He recently published, The Beauty of Time Travel (Gestalten), which explores ho...

This week we throw the spotlight on outdoor lifestyles. A topic we've been closely tracking at WGSN as the pandemic has shifted consumer behaviour, with many people embracing nature and activities in the fresh air. Alongside hiking and wellness trends such as forest bathing we're witnessing an increase in what you might call 'social sports', from surfing to skateboarding and currently in the north...