(Image by Three of the Possessed)
Last week was the last week of my internship at Avec, a Dutch company that develops all sorts of craft supplies for big stores in the Netherlands. I had an amazing time there. I got my own trend wall, where I could put all the signals I found and I was able to write my own trend report on craft trends. Avec is always on the hunt for craft trends and new products, so for the last five months, I had emerged myself in the world of crafting. A whole new world opened up for me. I'm an enthusiastic crafter myself, but I learned a lot about the development of craft supplies and the way companies look at crafting. Anyway, a part in my eventual trend report was about a trend containing crystals, called 'Cool Crystals'. It's an interesting trend, which is not only 'happening' in the craft world, but in very many others too.
This trend wasn't about actual crystals, but the use of well designed, graphic crystals I came along a lot these last few months. I have to admit, real crystals and minerals have something magical. They're a wonderful creation of Mother Nature. Therefore many graphic designers got inspired by these magical creations and started simplifying crystals with straight lines and beautiful colorization. Take a look at the nicely designed image above and you'll see what I mean. It's obviously inspired by a mineral or diamond, but transformed into something more design-ish.
I found many signals containing these design forms of crystals and diamonds. Many interior designs, like the mint lamp and the mirrors on the left. But also objects like diamond shaped drinking glasses, ear rings and even diamond shaped ice cubes (how amazing!). Last year, the 'design diamond' shape that can be seen on the bag above, was seen on many clothing items, such as T-shirts and caps.
But why this obsession with this symbol? Obviously, it's a very gratifying shape.. The left side of the human brain loves symmetry and solid lines, while the right side of our brain loves creativity and emotion. The diamond and crystals shapes combine these two sides of the brain, being both solid and creative. Besides that, the early majority of our society has met the world of design. The world of Scandinavian design, beautiful colors (like mint and coral) and well designed forms. No wonder more and more people are loving these symbols!
Avec always liked examples to be concrete. They understanded the trend, but wanted to see genuine examples of what people would craft, regarding the trend ofcourse. Therefore, I included several craft options on the trend report as well. I actually can't show them here, since Avec might develop some actual products, but I can tell you it contained exampes like diamond shaped piñatas, felt crystal shaped brooches, wooden diamond shaped guirlands and crystal printables. All so cool!
That's why this trend is called Cool Crystals ;)
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