Future of shopping

Future of shopping is a project initiated by Christine Hedström/Design United and Dr. Ronald Jones, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Konstfack. The result from the course at Konstfack will be presented by the students as a future shop in the mall Gallerian at Hamngatan in Stockholm February 5-14. The picture above is a rough sketch of the project.

Future of shopping is also a panel debate which I will moderate on Tuesday February 5th in Gallerian at Hamngatan in Stockholm. It starts at 6pm. Among the panelists you will find Claes von Hauswolf, brand director at Brio, Mikael Schiller, managing director at Acne jeans, Karolin Forsling, retail manager at AMF pension and Micael Dahlén, associate professor in marketing and strategy at Stockholm School of Economics (to mention a few). In the panel debate the future of shopping and a bit of luxury will be challenged. I hope you can make it!

Here follows a text by Ronald Jones about the project and the exhibition:

Our culture is experiencing transition at so many different levels that we find ourselves at an unprecedented moment in history where we have begun to realistically re-imagine art, craft and design’s relationship to our culture, and its future. And as this broad transition unfolds decisions will have to be made as to what traditions will be carried forward, and how we will integrate them with emerging tendencies across other disciplines and invent the leading edge of this new culture. A significant share of these critical decisions will be made in professional schools, and within universities. In this respect I see The Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Konstfack as ground zero. As a college of art, craft and design, the students and faculty at Konstfack are particularly well positioned to play a vital role in making those decisions, and therefore in shaping the future of the culture.
The future of luxury is an open question without obvious answers but it will be the young artists, craftspeople, and designers at Konstfack who will ultimately provide them. What will we be shopping for in the future? Bling Bling? The way things look now, it is more likely to be clean air and pure water. The first recorded war was fought over water in what we now know as Iraq; lets hope that by asking the really difficult questions now in studios like Konstfack’s The Future of Shopping, answers will come that will allow us to avoid shopping for, and fighting over life’s real essentials.
That’s why The Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at Konstfack is committed to studios like this one, and strategic alliances with industry partners like Gallerian. We originally envisioned this studio as what it indeed became, a “think tank” environment where agendas across disciplines were re-imagined, and altered at something like a genetic level in order to create generational effects. As we do this we create new teaching platforms with international resonance, and without sounding pretentious, an international reach with the influence we associate with the Bauhaus. Frankly, Konstfack has the students and faculty to accomplish this.

via David Report Blog