It is not difficult to spot Tal Lancman in the crowd at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv. He is wearing a shirt of his own design, in camouflage colors bearing dozens of "Hello Kitty" images over a grass-green T-shirt and olive green pants. His thick-rimmed glasses are a greenish gray, designed especially for him by eyeglass designer Allan Mikli, whose signature is engraved on the frames. Even the face of his watch is a phosphorescent green, but he is not. Lancman explains that this greenish gray, which belongs to the family of subtle, sophisticated colors and whose exact definition is difficult to pin down, is part of a trend in the color industry. Other hues in this category are grayish green or pinkish beige, as well as more colorful shades that presume to be basic colors but are actually not. They are the next big thing.

The market, says Lancman, has become discriminating and sophisticated, ripe for relatively complex concepts. In the past, when designers proposed a stylish concept, it concerned only the elite. But now, the general market is more open to such ideas. Like faded pastel tones. Lancman, 44, is a trend seer. For the past 19 years he has been living in Paris, predicting the next trend for design companies in all fields, including fashion, home design, beauty and cosmetics (L'Oreal) and sportswear (Reebok). Lancman researches the limits of design, curates exhibitions and displays works at important museums around the world.

Now he is in Israel, curating the exhibition of works by Itai Noy, "A Second Second," which opened Monday at the Eretz Israel Museum. In the past year Lancman and his partner, haute couture designer Maurizio Galante, have also been the art directors for the Mudam Luxembourg Museum of Modern Art, and have been in charge of the commercial space concept, which includes a unique boutique, event production and a restaurant whose menu was developed in cooperation with well-known artists and designers, including Gaetano Pesce, Yayoi Kusama and Roberto Capucci.

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Lancman completed his studies in fashion design at the Shenkar School of Engineering and Design in the late 1980s and departed for Paris. He had no experience, connections or money, but, "I had a feeling that if I stay in Israel it will be harder to make this move later." His portfolio from Shenkar may have been bold and full of character, but was completely cut off from the changing reality.

"I was the last generation at Shenkar to absorb the spirit of the 1980s, of designers who dictate to the market, which then follows them," recalls Lancman.

The early 1990s and the economic crisis changed that reality, and Lancman decided to leave his work as a designer at Ton Sur Ton sportswear, took a night job as a security guard and worked on a new portfolio during the day.

"I wandered the streets with my camera, took notes, drew and documented what I saw, what women want, what helps them."

When his new portfolio was complete, Lancman was accepted as an intern at Lee Edelcourt in Paris, considered a world leader in predicting future trends. He then took a further internship at Promostyl, where he remained for two seasons, working on menswear and cosmetics predictions.

For the past 15 years Lancman has been the senior editor of Textile View Magazine, which predicts trends, from colors to fabrics and from shapes to marketing and branding concepts. Among other things, he prepared a series of articles on street culture, based on street photographs accompanied by commentary.

"I needed to demonstrate the changing moods and atmosphere, to present specific market groups, such as the goldenagers, or as I call them, the wise ones. On another occasion I prepared a series of articles on meeting points between various disciplines of art and design, which both reflect one another and encroach on one another." In 2003, Lancman founded Interware, a consulting firm, in partnership with Galante. They have been working together since then, in design that crosses the limits, closely following the production of collections and advising international companies on turning trends into products.

Lancman is also a partner in the design of Galante's haute couture line, and in that capacity discusses current trends with women clients. All of them, says Lancman, tell him they have been collecting Galante's fashions for years, and all of them keep buying because the clothes are "conversation pieces," that a jacket by Galante is an eye-catcher, and almost always sparks conversation on the fabric and the form.

Haute couture is far away from the street and is often unrealistic and unwearable.

"Haute couture is a dying market," says Lancman. "There are perhaps 200 clients worldwide, but as a source of inspiration it has great productive value. For years I have been living near the Sanier [garment district] in Paris, and I see ideas from the shows being put into use."

Lancman feels it is natural to combine all the disciplines.

"From my point of view, everything comes from the same source," he says. "When we opened Interware, we had a tremendous desire to express all our ideas in fashion and interior design, furniture, lighting, boutiques, even hotels. Our timing was perfect.

"When I first arrived in Europe, there was opposition to cooperation between people from different fields of design. But when we founded the company, the furniture and interior design industries had begun to shift toward fashion with respect to inspiration, and a trend toward design full of character and presence.

How do you view design today?

"We all have design instincts. Now everyone is a designer. There is a greater craving today for self-expression. Fashion has shifted from the designers to the street, and they have to be more attentive to their audience. The party ended in the late 1980s. People were in no mood to go wild with unrealistic silhouettes and began to move inward. Now we are returning to the mood of the 1980s, but from a different angle of self-assurance and renewed motivation, based on conclusions and lessons, and on real needs. Today the trend is to go in a design direction that anyone can adapt to his needs."

While predictions in the fashion world usually concern the coming year, in the cosmetics arena, the range is five or six seasons away. One way or the other, "timing is everything," says Lancman.

"I might have a good idea for a good client, but for a more distant season, and that could bring down a whole group. Once I advised a jeans company regarding the next trend, and I already knew what would be happening two years later. I didn't tell them that, and as a professional I submitted an updated forecast for the season in question, but they pressured me and I finally decided to tell them about another direction. The company implemented the idea that very season, and it was a dismal failure. The following year they did not use it, but Diesel did, and was very successful."

We do not invent anything by forecasting trends, says Lancman.

"The trends are in the air," he explains. "You can recognize them and use them. You have to have the ability to identify things with abstract character and demonstrate them to the customer in a concrete fashion that is clear to everyone. From a commercial perspective, the client is investing vast sums."

What affects you predictions?

"The starting point is a healthy gut feeling. You take a detail, an event or a piece of information that attracts your attention and file it away in your brain. It doesn't have to be used immediately. During the week of the Milan design exhibition I saw thousands of things; spoke and met with many people. Sometimes an object that I did not have time to digest, something that I could not photograph, is engraved on my memory. I call it the presence of absence. Things that are hidden from the eye are no less important." A workshop Lancman and Galante held recently in Tasmania, for Australian designers, was called "Wishful Thinking." Participants were asked to create a dream project, a kind of scenario each wished for himself.

"It was fascinating and touching to see that almost everyone was thinking about the needs of others," says Lancman.

This, he points out, has now become a trend. "It is becoming fashionable to do good, to help and be useful, in contrast to the current hedonism, of people wasting their money on their immediate surroundings. This is in keeping with the concept of life as a compilation of conflicts, but which can also be complementary."