■ Li Edelkoort & Philip Fimmano
Lidewij Edelkoort is a Dutch trend forecaster, publisher, humanitarian, design educator and exhibition curator. Her company Trend Union produces tools for designers, weavers and strategists all over the world. In 2015, her much talked about Anti_Fashion Manifesto was the first to raise awareness about the shifts and upheavals currently experienced by the fashion industry.
From 2015-2020, Li was the Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons in New York where she founded a Textile Masters and the New York Textile Month festival.
Li has been named one of the most influential people in fashion by TIME Magazine and Business of Fashion. Her thought-provoking writings and podcasts have become increasingly popular and now regarded as an activist and champion for change. In 2020, she started the World Hope Forum as a platform to inspire the creative community to rebuild a better society.
Phillip Fimmano is an Australian-born trend analyst, design curator and writer, contributing to Trend Union’s forecasting books, magazines and strategic studies. Alongside Lidewij Edelkoort, he has co-created exhibitions for museums and institutions around the world, including Tokyo's 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Design Museum Holon and the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris. In 2011, he co-founded Talking Textiles; to promote innovation in textiles.
Along with Lidewij, he is the co-author of the recently published design book A Labour of Love (Lecturis, 2020) and the co-founder of the World Hope Forum, a new creative platform for community building. Fimmano teaches a forecasting masters at Polimoda in Florence and is on the board of directors for the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe.