46 During the past two years many people have been fortunate enough to have been able to explore the areas surrounding where they live and spend more time in their gardens, finding a new love of the outdoors. So, we predict that wildlife, nature and country landscape designs will be big in 2022. Susan Ryder, Heritage Crafts www.hcrafts.com The past 18 months have made us all revaluate what’s important in life. During lockdown, we craved the outdoors and became appreciative of green spaces and getting back to nature to help with our wellbeing. This has influenced what we’ll see next year, with the colour green coming to the fore along with ethical innovation and sustainability being top of the list. Natural dyes, leather alternatives, waxed surfaces, preserved botanicals and seeded papers will all feature in our eco-friendly stationery choices. To help cope with the monotony of lockdown, we started revisiting old hobbies or picking up new interests − being able to invest our time in learning or honing traditional skills. As me move into 2022, we’ll certainly see more handmade crafts such as greeting cards and décopatch kits. The spike in journaling will also continue as people seek self-care by writing down affirmations and thoughts of gratitude. Moving out of uncertainty and into our new vision of the future, a futuristic and otherworldly trend will be apparent. In contrast to the aforementioned natural trend, we’ll see subtle iridescence, translucent materials, delicate layers and dichroic effects. 3D pens will undoubtedly be a popular product, allowing the consumer to transform art into life and physically touch their creation. Alex Butler, London Stationery Show www.stationeryshowlondon.co.uk It’s clear that all crafts have continued to be big after the burst of popularity in 2020, but embroidery in particular has seen major growth which shows no signs of slowing down as we move towards 2022. The Craft Report showed that hand embroidery kits are one of the biggest growing areas in the industry with customers looking for simplicity and ease alongside modern and fresh designs. We’ve certainly seen that in the ongoing increase in customers looking for stitching projects, both in hoops and more freehand creations such as our embroidered felt craft kits. We’re also seeing more and more interest in plastic free products and eco/sustainable production, and it’s great to see so many craft companies take on this challenge. Products made in the UK will continue to stand out above anything that needs importing with the continued high costs of shipping and import issues. And finally, a personal passion for me that’s definitely going to be big in 2022, dinosaurs! Felted, sewn, stitched, cut or crocheted, look out for dinos at every turn! Stephanie Carswell, Hawthorn Handmade www.hawthornhandmade.com Shows are back! 2022 will see the rise and rise of both consumer and trade craft shows. The success of our first shows since the pandemic this autumn have shown us just how keen crafters are to get back to shows, real life workshops and real-life shopping. We’ve been working hard to organise consumer events in the last few months of 2021 that crafters feel confident and safe to attend and we have seen this work pay off. As confidence grows (and stashes are used up) I can see visitor numbers growing throughout spring and summer 2022. Our independent research, The Craft Report, has revealed that the pandemic has prompted more people to get involved in crafting, spurring consumers to take up new crafts or pick up a craft long since left untouched. With this in mind, we’re geared up for Stitches in February 2022 with increased consumer demand driving retailers to the trade show for the kind of face-to-face interaction we’ve all been missing for so long. Steve Mitchell, ICHF Events www.chsi.co.uk
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