GERMANY – Our lives are affected by fundamental societal influences. The term “megatrends” is used to describe these epochal and universal forces. Megatrends are the obvious but also the unnoticed strong undercurrents in societies, which occur to varying extents. 

Megatrends can prevail for several decades, because they are long-term and enduring phenomena. In this way they clearly differentiate themselves from trends, fashions and short-term hype. Present megatrends are Connectivity, Female Shift, Silver Society, Mobility, Neo-Ecology, Health, New Work, Urbanization, Individualization, Globalization and New Learning.

All of them determine the demands placed on the home and the impacts on furniture as a product. All in all, megatrends are a reflection of the basic human need felt by people to create order in their world, to reduce life’s complexity and thus to make the future predictable. ”The way that people think and live determines the way they build their homes”, said Johann Gottfried von Herder over 200 years ago.