Member Spotlight Nina Karsten

“Color forecasting is not about being the first to come up with an idea. To me, the main requirement for serious trend research is to have a well-trained sensitivity regarding the first hints of what might become a stronger trend in the future.” — Nina Karsten, CMF Designer, Mankiewicz Coatings

Color Forecasting Requires a Well-Trained Trend Sensitivity

Nina Karsten, CMF (Color, Material, and Finish) Designer with Mankiewicz Coatings shares her insights on color application in our Member Spotlight.

Multi-industry Trend-Driven Coatings

Mankiewicz produces paint for a variety of businesses including cars, airplanes, yachts, coffee machines, pianos, light-switches and a lot more. Beyond color selection, attention concerning gloss levels, effects, coarseness, and durability are important aspects of Nina’s position as CMF Designer.

“Color-palettes are as diverse as the work of my design team. Very often color and finish significantly determine the appearance and character of a product so choosing the right paint is a crucial decision. As a consequence, a big part of my job is trend research. Mankiewicz has a diverse range of customers so it’s important for us to follow the development of colors and surfaces in a variety of sectors to understand what is currently happening. Furniture fairs and Design Shows are as important to us as shows for cars, aviation or appliances. I enjoy this broad input a lot.” — Nina Karsten, CMF Designer, Mankiewicz

Nina Karsten, CMF Designer, Mankiewicz

Color Forecasting Community

CMG’s annual European Conference is an event that I looking forward to. It brings together a lot of different people who – due to their jobs – keep a close eye on the development of colors. People who have been working in this field over a certain period understand that nobody who is linked to color forecasts has a crystal ball hidden in the drawer which predicts the “new red” or the “new black”.

Trend Spotting

Color forecasting is not about being the first to come up with an idea. To me, the main requirement for serious trend research is to have a well-trained sensitivity regarding beginning hints of what might become a stronger trend in the future. At an early stage, these hints are usually not very “loud”.

Collaborating on Perceptions

When attending CMG color forecasting events, you find the right color design professionals to discuss those vague perceptions. These events are where you can review different views and take home new perspectives and often also a much clearer picture. The discussions and results of the color conferences assist Nina in the process of specifying and choosing new colors and topics for our Mankiewicz Trend Forecast Collection. It also furnishes my team with the confident feeling that we have not just taken something “out of the blue” or that we have sleepwalked into choosing colors of personal preference.

Holistic Color Selection

Color Marketing Group asked Nina what her most challenging color project has been or is to be. “My biggest color-oriented project lies ahead of me as my family and I are redoing an old house. Our home is over 80 years old and still has its original roof. The roof, along with many additional parts, needs to be renewed and renovated. We are living in chaos. As soon as the renovation is completed my reward will be to choose the colors for the rooms and tile. I think that is going to be my cherry on the cake in terms of holistically working with colors.” said, Nina.

About Mankiewicz

Over a century of innovation has made Mankiewicz one of the leading manufacturers of high-quality coating systems for the general industry, aviation and automotive markets worldwide. Nowadays more than one thousand five hundred employees around the world are busy with the realization of Coating Concepts of the Future, ensuring the long-term preservation of utility and capital goods. Mankiewicz products feature the highest quality and continuous proximity to the market and its requirements. Mankiewicz continues to invest in the areas of research and development, as well as modern production facilities to ensure successful business development worldwide.