Innovations: working creatively with kits
DIY is the in thing again. Ever more kits are helping people to take their first tentative steps with a new technique, offering them a huge amount of inspiration to tackle a specific creative project. Part three of our four-part new products report introduces you to a small selection of new articles that were showcased at Insights-X from 9 to 12 October.
Pencil sets for creative drawing
Drawing often demands very different kinds of pencils for a single project – for drawing, sketching, colouring in, and so on. Sets that contain the various pencils for a specific project are very useful. Cretacolor presents its new “Wolf Box” in a limited edition of just 5,000 units worldwide. Besides white chalk and charcoal products to make black-and-white drawings, the 25-piece drawing set now also includes two pastel crayons in yellow tones, so that the wolf's head can be given dramatic yellow eyes. The Austrian label has also packed an artist pencil sharpener, a kneaded eraser and polishing leather into the box to round off all the accessories. All Cretacolor products are designed and manufactured in Austria.
Kiddies craft kits
Children like to be creative, but the projects they tackle should not be too big and elaborate in order to ensure that they have a sense of achievement. Creativ Company offers 18 different miniature creative kits with all the material needed to complete a project. Ice lolly sticks are transformed into superheroes, polystyrene foam and foam clay into aliens, and flower shapes are painted and embroidered. Thanks to all the various techniques, there is something for every child and the kits make ideal gifts and are also suitable as an activity at a child's birthday party. Larger kits will also delight children when they deal with a topic such as unicorns. Totum offers a 3-in-1 unicorn creative kit where children can cast and paint pendants, thread jewellery and create beautiful pictures with stencils and a spray pen.
Creating Christmas decorations
Advent calendars allow children and adults to increase and enjoy their anticipation of Christmas. Rico-Design offers three kits to create different models of them. With the "Advent Calendar Geometric Boxes" kit, 24 boxes in two geometric shapes can be made from glossy cardboard. They can then be laid or hung up with the ribbon enclosed. In the "Advent Calendar Nostalgic Christmas" sewing kit, various fabric bags are sewn and hung on a metal ring using the thread included, and then decorated with pompoms. And in the "Advent Calendar Felted Christmas Baubles" craft kit, various Christmas baubles are made out of felt and decorated.
Easy embroidery for everyone
When it comes to needlework, punching is developing into a sought-after creative technique that no wool lover can do without at present. Three-dimensional motifs are embroidered on loosely woven fabrics using the so-called punch needle. The punch needle technique resembles a mixture of embroidery and knotting. Since it's a fairly simple technique, which leads to a quick result, non-embroidery enthusiasts also quickly fall in love with it. Folia offers a complete kit, including instructions for punching a fluffy alpaca so you can familiarise yourself with the technique. Whether it's a matter of drawing, making things or needlework, inspiration and kits all lead you to a successful end result these days.
About the author
Gabriela Kaiser has been the owner of a trend agency since 2002, after working 6 years as designer for knitwear. She visits trade fairs as a trend scout and gives lectures there. She advises companies from industry and trade on upcoming trends and writes regularly for various trade magazines.
