Ben je nieuwsgierig geworden naar een trendopleiding of cursus naar aanleiding van dit interview?
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Interview with ROZENBROOD trendwatchers
A few years ago I followed a specialization course at Artemis on Trendwatching | Prognosis and Strategy and there I got to know Nanon and Djenny from
ROZENBROOD. They were my teachers at the time and I have learned a lot from them.
After the course I joined them via TrendConnection and through that way you can hire me and other trend watchers for a trend presentation. Want to know more about it? Please contact me.
Because they started their own academy a while ago under the name Trendacademy, I thought it would be nice to introduce them to you. Since many of my blog readers are interested in trends and trendwatching, looking at the blogposts you like to read.
The nice thing is that ROZENBROOD’S Trendacademy now offers a short course for interior decorators and designers via
NIA.
Check here for more info.
THE INTERVIEW | ROZENBROOD an introduction:
Who are and what is “ROZENBROOD”?
How can you best describe your business and work?
We, Nanon and Djenny of Rozenbrood, are trend watchers who look at trends from the heart and the mind. We are naturally intuitive trend watchers but have learned to investigate our intuition and to substantiate it. Originally we both come from the art world and because of that images of art, design, architecture and fashion play a big role in our presentations.
What is it you do as ROZENBROOD?
We investigate trends, both wide with a helicopter view, as narrow. Then we focus on a specific subject or a specific industry. Most trend watchers are either general or specialize. For us, the cross-pollination of one particular field with the other works. So we can investigate why certain trends are not (yet) manifested in a certain area for example. We look at fashion and interior design as trend sources, based on the idea that creative people with their antennae can shape the zeitgeist at an early stage. Our clients are very varied: governments at every level, SMEs, networks, educational institutions. We mainly work for Dutch clients.
How and when did you start ROZENBROOD?
We met at the course Prognosis & Strategy at Styling Academy Artemis. We both had the feeling we finally found what we really wanted to do. And we clicked. Our visual languages were quite different, but connected well with each other. Our skills and personalities as well, as has been proved. We officially started in 2007.
ROZENBROOD is made up of how many persons?
We are just the two of us, but soon there will be a need for expansion: a back office, so we can focus our attention on the content.
Djenny: HKU(College of the Arts), sculpting; Artemis Prognosis & Strategy; Design Management Eurib
Nanon: Art History en Art Policy & Management RUU; Artemis Styling Academy Interior Styling; Artemis Styling Academy Prognosis & Strategy
Trend presentations and work:
How does a trend presentation or book come about?
We both start a trend presentation with research in our own way. Because we are so different, the research is very broad. In a work session we determine the direction of the presentation, grafted on the purpose and audience. Next, we search for the images.
A trend book, we have not yet made, but is on our wish list!
How do you distinguish yourself from other trend agencies?
By the way we use images. We use images as an information source, by looking at art, architecture, fashion, design etc. What do images and designs tell us about the zeitgeist? We also use images as a means to convey our story. Because images let the audience think more freely than a bulletpoint powerpoint …
How do you prepare for a job or a season?
We are busy, almost day and night, with keeping up on our sources. The distinction between work and non-work is not always possible to make. June and December are busy months for us, both in terms of presentations and tender preparations for the next half year. We don’t make use of active acquisition. Most of our orders come from encounters, through references or clients who find us on the web.
How do you discover new influential places, events, people?
Eyes and ears open and using our antennae. This we have always done. The trick is not to get buried under the busyness of our work, so you are still be able to receive the signals. We try to go to interesting events and lectures, read about a 100 newsletters and never take the same route home, so to speak …
How often does ROZENBROOD make a new trend presentation?
It varies. The last 6 years we made on average two presentations, that cover a wide range of topics, per year. With these we can work, if we keep them up to date. Making a trend presentation is one of the most enjoyable aspects of our work. But it takes a lot of time and energy. You really have to block time for it in your schedule. It can´t just be done in between other tasks.
Which part do you like most and what is the most difficult thing about trend research or a trend presentation?
All phases are fun: research, trend line, imagination, implementation and of course presenting to the public. All of it together is nice. We would not like it if it was just doing research or just presenting.
You have multiple websites and branches. What is the purpose of these sites? How did it start?
ROZENBROOD is about research, presentation and implementation. We love education, that is why we started our own
Trendacademy. Because we got a lot of questions about how trendwatching works. We love teaching about trends, in addition to our work for
ROZENBROOD. This way there is cross-pollination. The
Trendacademy has recently launched its own website
www.trendacademy.eu. Thus the distinction between the two branches becomes clearer.
We also started TrendConnection. For several years we have taught Prognosis & Strategy at Artemis; the course that we had followed ourselves. People ended the course with a marketable presentation, which not always reached the market. Because people did not have the contacts, or because they have a steady job and no time to do the acquisition. TrendConnection sells these lectures. At TrendConnection you do not search by name -there are no nationally renowned trend watchers signed on- but by subject. For clients nice to hire a young trend watcher, and for the trend watchers nice to have more practical experience. We also assist them in these jobs.
Do you have a motto or text or image that inspires you and why? And does that change often?
We actually have two mottos:
– Picturing the future. Bringing the future into focus, but also depicting the future.
– Ticket to the future. This represents the peek into the future that we offer and the handhold that we try to give the audience so they can get started with it.
This touches on our core values and therefore does not change!
What are the most important trends at this moment?
Globalization and the changing economy that that entails.
What do you like to do apart from your life as trend watcher?
Nanon: Spending time with my family, reading, gardening, experimenting with cooking.
Djenny: Walking the dog, spending time with friends, cooking and tasting wines together, gardening, to have a conversation with and look at art.
Which artists and countries do you prefer?
Djenny: during my holidays I love to get lost in big cities or spending hours walking in nature. Seek peace and tranquil landscapes. I do not really have a preference for an artist. I do really enjoys grand gestures such as the work of Anish Kapoor and on the other side of poetry in pictures as in the work of Tanja Deman.
Nanon: during my holidays I always look for nature and the sun. I am also an avid diver. I do not really have a preference for a specific country. I follow a lot of artists, also because of my previous work as an art consultant. I do not really have a preference for a specific discipline.
What do you like most about your job and what is less fun?
The best thing about our work is to inspire people and to do research. Less fun are the logistical and administrative tasks: the back office.
What makes you happy or strikes a chord with you?
Djenny: Wonderment, passionate people, the naivety of children, nature.
Nanon: Beautiful pictures make me happy, and real people.
What is your passion besides your work?
Djenny: I enjoy talking with people and philosophize about why things go as they go and why we do the things we do in the way we do them. From that point looking for new opportunities together and coming up with concepts.
Nanon: My lifelong fascination is how people shape ideas. That is what I always look for. If I enter someone’s house, go out to dinner, look at a drawing from my children. That viewpoint always gives me energy and inspiration.
Let’s go back to ROZENBROOD:
What was the best job so far?
That is hard! Giving 120 bakers insight into how consumers live is nice, but gently tickling 120 cultural institutions to think demand-driven as well. Actually, it is always the most recent job that is the most challenging and fun!
What is the craziest / most spectacular or most special trend that you have ever discovered?
The first crowdsourced restaurant in Netherlands: Instructables.
What is the most beautiful season or trend that you have discovered?
We do not see different things than other trend watchers. What we are proud of is the way we depict that and can summarize it in sententious words and images. That gives the audience more grip than just signaling a trend.
What has been the biggest success for ROZENBROOD so far?
The building of a successful duo-business in six years.
Has ROZENBROOD received any prizes?
A nomination for “Trend Watcher Of The Year 2012”.
Where, for whom or for which company would you like to do trend research sometime in the future?
The where or who doesn’t matter that much to us, but we would very much like to be involved with a project for a longer time, so we could also contribute to the process in a later phase of the project.
Where can we encounter you in the future?
Everywhere where people show their creative ideas.
With whom would you like to collaborate?
With trendwatcher David Shah, an inspiring trend watcher who knows a lot about fashion and also publishes the magazine Viewpoint.
Where do you expect to be in 5 years?
Hopefully we will still be working together in harmony. Maybe we will have a building of our own, at least for the Trendacademy.
What are your ambitions for the future?
Continue to inspire people!
Djenny and Nanon | ROZENBROOD: Thank you for this inspiring interview!
Has this interview piqued your interest about an education or course in trendwatching?
Then take a look at the site of NIA and Trenacademy:
On November 15, 2013 a new course is starting at the Trendacademy.
On November 4, 2013 the first session of the course trendwatching especially for interior designers is starting at the NIA!
