Lidewij Edelkoort on how long trends really take
“Most of the time we only work on the long-term trend. Because the short TikTok things, for a few weeks, are not really interesting in the long run. They just give shape to the big movement. Recently, I showed my books to a publisher and we came to the conclusion that most trends take 20 to 25 years to arrive and to really blossom.”
What happens when we give ourselves permission to play, make mistakes and follow an idea before we know where it will lead? Recorded at Hotel Diplomat in Stockholm, this episode of The Art Bystander brings together host Roland-Philippe Kretzschmar, trend forecaster, publisher and educator Lidewij Edelkoort, and design curator, author and trend analyst Philip Fimmano.
Lidewij Edelkoort on trusting intuition
“I have given my intuition the sole power to give me the messages. So it’s almost something which is working outside my body and my own spirit. It’s going around without me even knowing it is. So it’s completely subconscious, doing its work, and then I just have to say, ‘Thank you very much. This is a very good idea.’ And I do believe that ultimately our intuition is not ours. It’s our common field, which is this big field of experience and soul processes which are around us.”
Their exhibition, INNER CHILD: Playing with Design at Artipelag, provides the starting point for a conversation about childhood, intuition, craftsmanship and the human need to create.
Philip Fimmano on play and the freedom to make mistakes
“Being experimental and taking risks and not being afraid of making mistakes or starting again. These are all the lessons that you learn when you’re playing with toys or even art materials as a child. It’s hard if you’re a perfectionist, like Li and me, but I think through the exhibition we’ve learned how to let go a little bit more. We’re also in a time frame now where everything doesn’t have to be perfect all the time. You can allow yourself to be a bit more playful or express a sense of humour and not take everything so seriously."
Edelkoort explains why the cultural changes she identifies can take 20 to 25 years to become fully established. Fimmano reflects on experimentation, the freedom to begin again and how designers have reconsidered their priorities since the pandemic.
Lidewij Edelkoort on craft and the need for touch
“I believe that people want to speak about craft more as a unique discipline because we need to rekindle it. […] Craft is not just a word like design and art. It’s almost a mentality. […] Our fingers are sort of thirsty for touch. So I guess this is why craft is now so prominent.”
Together, we discuss fashion’s relentless overproduction, the increasingly fluid boundaries between art, craft and design, and how AI might reshape work and education. We also explore Edelkoort’s “age of the amateur”: a possible future in which learning, making and shared interests occupy a larger place in our lives.
Philip Fimmano on the “age of the amateur”
“This is what Li calls the age of the amateur, because we’re going to be embracing hobbies and learning and craft like never before, where it becomes our main focus. In our spare time, so-called free time, we’re going to be investing in learning more, in becoming better at a certain technique or a certain pastime. The idea of cottage industries and doing things at home, and interacting with others, coming together as groups and socialising, all of this is going to be based on this idea that we’re all amateurs and lovers of certain things, and that we then invest ourselves in them like never before.”
INNER CHILD: Playing with Design brings together more than 200 objects by over 100 designers and studios from 23 countries. On view at Artipelag, outside Stockholm, from 10 October 2026 to 11 April 2027.
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