In art publishing, art licensing and the home decor industries, you can be sure that change is constant.

I was fortunate to be on a Surtex panel discussion last year with trend guru Tom Mirabile, who last month led a seminar at the Chicago Housewares show summarized in this HFN article.  Tom outlines “10 New Rules of Engagement” based on his experience as svp of global trend and design for Lifetime Brands. If I could crystalize his points into one sentence it would be: Don’t Get Complacent!  Even if you know your audience really, really well, chances are that it’s changing right in front of your eyes.  None of the generations fit neat stereotypes, and they keep evolving. While the prospect of keeping up may sound exhausting, the positive flip side of constant change is the need for creativity.  That’s good news for companies like ours completely based on coming up with fresh, current imagery.  But creativity is not just coming up with new designs, it’s also about how you deliver, how you communicate, how you do business.  Tom’s article is a great reminder to pay attention to mega trends hiding in plain sight.