In 2010, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the invention of graphene, which is predicted to soon replace silicon and become the next stage of the telecommunications revolution. Its regularly ordered, honeycomb-like structure could be a graphic illustration of the trend we can observe at almost all design exhibitions, trade fairs, and presentations. Everywhere, faceted solids, flat surfaces, clear dividing lines, sharp edges, effects of brilliance and light dispersion, emphasis on construction and internal structure, and modularity appear. Packaging, textile, graphic design, and print designers are also drawing from „Lamborghini styling.” In all fields of design – from architecture, furniture design, car styling, or interior furnishings – a return to angular geometry is noticeable. However, not in its impersonal, modernist version, but in a form that refers to the molecular microstructures created by nature. Geometry has once again begun to be inspiring (especially when viewed under a microscope).
Trend Book 2012+ The album presents six main, chosen by Sławomir Fijałkowski, designer and lecturer at the Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts, stylistic trends: soft-tech, crystallography, Less is less, old-school, JOY!, macabresque. They are illustrated by prototypes created by students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk – over 60 works in total: from avant-garde to those capable of mass production. The publishers are the Mayor's Office for City Promotion of the Municipal Office in Gdańsk and the Faculty of Architecture and Design of the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk.