Usually, when looking at the drivers for a new set of design directions, there are often several diverse threads that need to be pulled together. This time it’s different, with one compelling and overarching macro theme; resources. Over the next two issues we’ll look at the way that shortages, whether that be energy, food, employment or minerals, are informing our environment.

In this issue, Grain looks to broad concerns about food scarcity, and fears about the precarity of global supply chains. More scarcity is also at the core of our second story, Mine. Lithium, cobalt and gold, among other minerals, are being mined to support our increasingly tech dependent world. Again, there is a rich mix of micro drivers to untease here, from resource colonialism to the shocking state of unregulated electronic waste.

This issue also curates the best from this Autumn’s shows. Notably, now that the collective euphoria of relaxed Covid-19 restrictions has worn off, a great deal of introversion informed many of the projects we saw, with the focus on explorations of personal identity, often presenting a complex web of issues, from gender to belief

Also in this issue…

• Features essays, and interviews exploring the drivers behind the 2024/25 forecast
• 40 pages of design and colour and material direction and analysis
• Global colour palettes and geographic variances for Europe, Middle East, Africa, North America, Latin America, Asia, India, Australia & New Zealand
• Early adopters of our AW 2023/24 directions 1969 and Soon
• Focus on Contract

For 2024/25 forecasts, geographic focuses, in-depth seasonal CMF forecast, Design Impressions, editorial images and more, become a Colour Hive member today.