Trendwatching.com is a research network which aims to spot emerging trends worldwide. Along with its sister network Springwise, it’s one of my favourite sources of what’s-going-on information, mainly because unlike most trend research agencies it gives most of it’s findings away for free. Today I saw they have published their annual report of important trends for the coming year, one of which is ‘Make it Yourself,’ or MIY.

The report itself doesn’t contain that much new information, highlighting Ponoko, Fab Lab BCN (the Barcelona manifestation of Neil Gershenfeld’s Fab Lab), and Front’s Sketch Furniture as evidence of the trend having gone mainstream,

“with millions of consumers uploading their creative endeavors online, and tens of millions of others enjoying the fruits of their creativity”

The end quote is interesting though:

“we’re not saying every consumer is going to design and manufacture his or her own furniture or appliances. Rather, MIY is yet another piece of the participation puzzle: enabling those consumers who feel like it to call the shots, bypassing traditional players.”

I’ve read some research papers which suggest what kind of consumers are interested in customising or designing their own products, but I’ve not yet come across any data which quantifies these consumers. One of the most interesting things about Ponoko is that it allows consumers to not only design but also sell products, such that consumers who perhaps do not have the creative skills to design their own products can nonetheless support those who do. Most interesting of all though, in my opinion, is the Threadless community, where consumers similarly limited in skills are often invited to comment and make suggestions as to how a design might be improved.