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"Like just about every other profession, design has been challenged over the past few years. Clients have grown cautious or disappeared altogether. Budgets have been cut. The housing market remains stalled. And even successful decorators have struggled to find work and maintain their staffs.  Yet the field continues to grow. There is no more compelling proof of design&amp;#039;s importance and vitality, and no more heartening demonstration of how much it means, than the number of gifted people who choose it for their life&amp;#039;s work.  At ELLE DECOR, we have had no trouble filling our pages with exciting new talents ranging from decorators to product designers. We have been finding a resurgence of creativity in fabrics and wallpapers, lighting, furniture, tabletop items\u2014an across-the-board influx of ingenuity and fresh visions. And the renaissance seems to be worldwide. We&amp;#039;re as likely to discover a special talent in Brooklyn as in Milan, in an upstate New York industrial studio as in a Paris atelier.  What&amp;#039;s also encouraging is that these talents come in all ages, and are spurred on by all kinds of inclinations and inspirations. They might design on their own, be part of a collective, or be on staff at a large firm. Their work is neither similar nor predictable. What unites them is sophistication, a broad knowledge of design history, technological savvy, and a quest for quality. And while they may use the Internet for research, store their music in the cloud, and schedule their appointments via text message, all are hands-on, and the objects they create have heft and presence. Decorators may shape rooms that are layered and personal, or distilled to an essential purity, but whatever their style, the spaces they design are practical and elegant solutions to the way we want to live every day.  It is this kind of continual renewal that keeps design pertinent and fascinating. Of course we still love the work of the many masters practicing today, but who isn&amp;#039;t also interested in what&amp;#039;s new, what&amp;#039;s next? And that&amp;#039;s what this issue is about.  Speaking of keeping things fresh, you may notice some small changes throughout our pages. We&amp;#039;ve begun using some new fonts and have made a few adjustments to our layouts and pacing in an effort to make our pages even clearer and more engaging. For us, it&amp;#039;s a perfect example of the power of small changes and the importance of constantly evaluating one&amp;#039;s work. We&amp;#039;d love to know what you think.   Michael Boodro, Editor in Chief, elledecor@hearst.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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