The current mood is one of confusion and fragmentation. The challenge is to reconnect, to find common ground, a form of shared life where there can be equivalence without demanding sameness. Design shows the way by allowing contradictions to merge symbiotically. What's more, where it falters, it is in fact cultivated, which makes it new and exciting. 

The fascination with nature is growing. Not least because more and more people are becoming aware of the loss of precious biodiversity. But nature is resilient; once it has been given space, the ecosystem gradually re-establishes itself. Man is looking for a new way to live in symbiosis with nature. Nature itself provides countless examples of this. Lichens in particular, a symbiotic form of cohabitation between algae and fungi, appeal to the imagination. They cannot be cultivated by humans, grow on rock-hard soil and are the habitat of fairies and elves, according to myths and sagas. Ice hair and the Northern Lights are other magical natural phenomena beyond human control. Elusive, untouchable, literally elusive, but visible. The Northern Lights can't even be captured in colour: the photo you take shows a different range of colours to the one you actually see.

What does this mean for trends in design language?
In the world of design, [lichen] mosses with their colourful, whimsical appearance are a great source of inspiration. On the one hand, this translates literally into designs, shapes, materials, structures, recipes, beauty products and architecture.
And on the other in a more imaginative, fairy-like, magical form language. Other natural phenomena we see reflected in design language are elusive phenomena like the Northern Lights and fragile phenomena like ice hair or the wonderful world of coloured natural stone and 'fluid' layered rocks.