James Wallman

Experiences replace stuff

‘The shift from materialism to experientialism is the key cultural trend of the 21st century. Instead of looking for status, happiness, identity, and meaning in material things, in the future we’ll be finding those things in experiences instead.’ Says British futurist James Wallman, author of the bestselling book Stuffocation: Why We’ve Had Enough of Stuff and Need Experience More Than Ever.

‘Stuffocation,’ he says, ‘is that feeling you get when you have to fight through piles of stuff you don’t use to find the thing you need. Overwhelmed and suffocating from stuff, we are feeling “stuffocation”.’

Wallman has an MA in Classics from the University of Oxford and developed into a respected forecaster. His forecasts and opinions have appeared in publications like the New York Times, the Sunday Times, the Financial Times, Time, The Economist, and Wired. In 2008 he forecasted driverless cars and in the past decade has helped businesses such as Absolut, BMW, Google and Zurich Insurance prepare for the future.

He was formerly editor of leading trend consultancy The Future Laboratory’s forecasting publication and recently founded The Future is Here, a think tank for a better world. The company helps businesses to be better today and better prepared for tomorrow.