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Consider this a repository for editorials by the Trendero staff.  Please leave us a comment or drop us a line on anything you’d like; we love to hear from the community.

A word on how we got started

A very good friend, Toni, came to visit me in San Francisco a couple of years ago.  Toni is Catalan, and in addition to having fantastic taste, she is a strong supporter of her local culture.  Like me, she loves to travel, often for the joy of discovering similarities but also subtle differences between her culture and that of the places where she stays.  And given her nose for authenticity, I thought I would share a few things I had discovered since recently moving to San Francisco, and she could send me analogues from Barcelona.  So this being 2006, I shared with her John Mayer’s CD, “Continuum,” and she sent me from Barcelona a CD from Jorge Drexler, “12 Segundos de Oscuridad.”

What struck me about our exchanges, which we continued regularly, is that what we were sharing was fairly well-known in our respective homes.  John Mayer isn’t exactly indie, and the same is true of Jorge Drexler in Spain.  Yet both are fantastic artists and share many attributes that are appreciated across cultures.  And I noticed that many aspects of culture, especially leisure habits, were also this way:  similar, and yet authentically different, like a cousin raised under another flag.

At the same time, there are few resources for unearthing these gems, especially with hyper-local trends, such as the must-see punk band in Tokyo or the newest cupcake spot in L.A.  And there are even fewer resources that track these trends over time, as they gather momentum and cross borders.

Fortunately, it seems that everyone, everywhere knows something about what they like.  Oftentimes, we are more aware of local trends than we realize; just try talking to someone from a different country about the things you watch, read, wear or listen to on a daily basis.  And even more fortunate: we are almost all connected through the internet.

So why aren’t we sharing this authentic, local information?

Hence, Trendero was born as a way to leverage the internet’s strong points–content straight from the users, who are the most authentic source of information about local trends–to celebrate local, original trends as they occur in real time.  We offer tools that allow Toni to post exactly what she finds is catching on in Barcelona–whether it be cupcake boutiques, thigh-high socks, the newest Almodovar film, or manga-themed house parties–as they are happening.  And anyone else can update that trend, suggesting when and where else it has been seen or adding new photos or audio from their own experience of it.

Why “trends,” and what does that mean?

I think of “trends” (for purposes of Trendero) as aspects of leisure culture:  they are places, things, or expressions of creativity and/or fun that embody the most authentic, expressive parts of an area’s social life.  I broadly place these “trends” in eight categories:  music, film, fashion, books, food, web, slang and fun.

The last, “fun,” could be especially enlightening:  since moving to San Francisco, I’ve uncovered a multitude of creative ways to pass time with friends.  But where my friends and I might have a pickup kickball game in a park, there must be an analogue in much colder Moscow…what is it?

Share away

So think of this site as an ever-changing, global database of cultural expressions around the world.  It is a community resource, built by you, for you.  Please let me know if there is anything that we need to add, or if you would like to contribute in a more formalized manner.  Trendero is here to celebrate everything that is original and fun about where you are, when at home and traveling.  Join our community and share!