BMW museum

Now Vending | The Luxury Automat

By Shonquis Moreno

Photo courtesy of Morgans Hotel Group The Semi-Automatic automat serves as the hotel gift shop at Miami’s Mondrian South Beach.

The automat — that ’50s-era icon of American ingenuity known for vending rubbery sandwiches from glass compartments — is back, and this time it’s boutique. Exhibit A: The most opulent and cheeky element of the Mondrian South Beach, a Marcel Wanders-designed hotel that opened in Miami in December, is a vending machine that now anchors the lobby. The Semi-Automatic was designed not by Wanders but by Ito Partnership for the Morgans Hotel Group, to conquer the cliché of the gift shop.

The Semi takes plastic instead of pocket change and is stocked with delectables (though nothing edible) curated by the Morgans creative director Kim Walker. Walker didn’t shrink from being naughty (24-karat gold handcuffs from Kiki de Montparnasse, a spa package called the “Masochist”), retro (Atari Classics for Playstation), tastefully sybaritic (a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow or 2000 Bentley Azure convertible — rental only), do-goodish (the Can of Gold, for $200, is a design-art “vase” whose proceeds go to charity) or obscurely hip (14-karat gold Retainer Necklace by the Brooklyn designer Kiel Mead). Best sellers include anti-recession T-shirts ($28) and Fred Flair heart sunglasses ($18), along with — who would have guessed? — marabou feather vests ($400).

via NYT: the moment

Fundación Alicia: food, science and transparency

Fundación Alicia: food, science and transparency












Clotet and Paricio have built a transparent garden of delights near Barcelona for the teachings of Ferran Adrià. Design Lluís Clotet, Ignacio Paricio, Abeba Arquitectes. Photos Lluís Casals.via Domus

Links this week

Out with Williamsburgh, in with Brunswick. Gallerists are now trading from the confort of their homes via NYT

Ángel Franco/The New York Times

Jason Irwin runs an art gallery called Privateer in his apartment, one of several nontraditional galleries in homes, storefronts and factory spaces in Bushwick.

New bookstore solely dedicated to photography: Clic Bookstore & Gallery is the latest venture from Christiane Celle, founder of the Calypso fashion boutiques.

Also in Times magazine: 10 ideas changing the world right now

Merci: a concept store that is good for the planet

All new, all beautiful. The creators of Bonpoint start to go into fashion and bio deco business with a bio-store concept, nearly 1,500 m² which has opened its doors on the 5th of March. The fashion addicts can find designer brands such as Swildens or Forte Forte as well as Jerome Dreyfuss or Isabel Marant. You can find everything here! In addition, with their stand to protect the environment, we’ll say Merci to the creators of Bonpoint for protecting our beautiful planet.

Merci
111, boulevard Beaumarchais
75011 Paris
France
T. : +33.1.42.77.10.38

via Hoosta

Photo credit

Waku Waku

IF Group designs WakuWaku in Hamburg, with stunning photos by Zooey Braun, we featured both a while back. See Bella Italia

Photo © 2009 Zooey Braun. All rights reserved.

The restaurant's philosophy revolves around a consistently implemented concept of sustainability and good value, healthy food, which is prepared extremely quickly. The key theme of sustainability is realised in an undogmatic, creative and unconventional way. It is already inherent in the name: ‘Waku’ is Japanese and means stir-fried, cooking hot, and at the same time exciting and tantalising.

Photo © 2009 Zooey Braun. All rights reserved.

Photo © 2009 Zooey Braun. All rights reserved.

Photo © 2009 Zooey Braun. All rights reserved.

Photo © 2009 Zooey Braun. All rights reserved.

Photo © 2009 Zooey Braun. All rights reserved.

Photo © 2009 Zooey Braun. All rights reserved.

Photo © 2009 Zooey Braun. All rights reserved.

Photo © 2009 Zooey Braun. All rights reserved.

via Yatzer

global march with Uniqlo

With H&M hitting Japan last September, UNIQLO is battling its toughest competition yet. At the same time, it is aggressively expanding its international store network in New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and Beijing. With its latest global campaign, put together by GT Tokyo it aims to connect with people across every age group, in every country that the brand is available… a very ambitious task.

UNIQLO March is an online ‘presentation’ format showing a group of 33 people spanning a wide range of ages, sex and occupations marching across the screen. Footage was filmed with an ultra-wide RED ONE lens, never used for online content before. The lens allows video footage of scenes covering more than 50m in length. Viewers can interact with the marching group to make them run, walk backwards or wave at each other.

By clicking on an outfit that they like, users can see a profile of the marcher and get taken directly to the online store to purchase any of the items the model is wearing. Users can also choose to keep their involvement online as an icon in a virtual Google Maps march through the streets of Tokyo or apply to take to the ‘real world’ streets as a model for the next element of the campaign.

via Contagious Magazine

www.uniqlo.com/march

Unusual Shaper of Talent for a Changing Art World: Nicky Vassell

Photo: Librado Romero/The New York Times


This is the fourth in a series of articles in the NY times that follows people trying to begin careers in the arts and examine how that process may have changed over the years. This one is about Nicola Vassell former model turned gallery director.


The article also mentions a possible collaboration between Puma and the artist Kehinde Wiley
to create a collection of clothing and accessories for the 2010 World Cup — to be held in Africa for the first time — the kind of deal that Ms. Vassell sees as essential to the economic future of the contemporary art world.
Art trends to watch.......

















Photo: Alex Quesada for The New York Times













Photo: Alex Quesada for The New York Times












Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times




see slideshow
via NY Times

Museum of Design and Applied Arts Opens Packaging - Wrapping to Design

Panier de la ménagère 2009 », concept : mudac, 2009, photo : Marie Humair/Olivier Laffely.

LAUSANNE.- Packaging is a concept that goes well beyond wrapping. Even if its ultimate aim remains the protection and transport of its contents, over the course of the decades certain more subtle elements have been added to this list of specifications. Thus, one can attribute to it six main functions: to contain, transport, preserve, identify the producer, inform about the content and authenticate the origin of the product. Yet, before everything else, firms seek to put on to the market wrappings or packagings that will encourage the consumer to buy. It is this particular “design” that interests us in the exhibition staged at the mudac. Packaging thus plays a role as a showcase, adding short-lived value to an object that makes it stand out among a plethora of stock which can sometimes be intimidating for the customer. And even if brands know that it will very often end up in the trash can once the sale has been made, they do not hesitate to change the packaging frequently in order to renew interest in a product. Incidentally, one needs to know that investing money in research into packaging is often less expensive than updating or revising the product itself. An interesting testimony to a way of life that involves planned obsolescence and a time when change and speed are valued above all else, packaging is revealing of contemporary trends. It represents a direct consequence of industrial development and of a type of consumption that goes through numerous intermediaries: when purchases are made at the supermarket, in big quantities, and transported by car, the packaging of a product is of necessity different to one that is sold at the local grocery. We are currently witnessing a phenomenon of “over-packaging”, which runs counter to concerns about the environment. Hundreds of packagings pour into the marketplace every year and sometimes only remain on sale for a few months, since they are subject to the verdict of consumers. Analysis of these design creations is fascinating, and the mudac has for several years been observing the evolution and impact of packaging on our lives as consumers and citizens. The exhibition is deliberately focused on two sectors that are highly dependent on the impact of packaging: food and cosmetics. This bias is dictated by practical reasons, among other factors, since these sectors have a huge volume of output and the variety of approaches guarantees the possibility of a high-quality selection. But what is most striking is that these products are for the most part in everyday use. The public’s familiarity with this type of packaging makes an in-depth analysis all the more interesting. How people look at an object, known from first glance, is different. Parallel to the products sold every day in supermarkets, the exhibition presents a choice of more luxurious objects, the packaging of which is astonishingly close to more commonplace objects. Packaging – Wrapping to Design presents hundreds of objects, for the most part drawn from the contemporary marketplace, local or international. Multiple comparisons can be made between these objects, whether regarding their use of colour, form and typography or the use of photographs and illustrations. One products that would like to appear sophisticated: packets of coffee or tea, luxury grocery products, perfumes. Despite – or because of? – its opaqueness, black is currently synonymous with luxury. The purity of white, on the other hand, has always been associated with cosmetics, but this colour also appears in certain foodstuffs packaging. As for gold and silver, they certainly symbolise luxury and “bling” but also maturity, including in the case of cosmetic products aimed at the “mature” skin. From the perspective of form, only luxury brands can allow themselves to produce unexpected packaging in more “noble” materials. One thus finds perfume bottles with seductive curves. But this deliberate originality is also reserved for alcohol and, since a short while ago, for mineral water, sold as a rare product. Already for some time now, producers have been practising a sort of confusion of genres that is definitely worthy of attention. Certain shapes and forms traditionally reserved for foodstuffs have been assigned to cosmetics, and vice versa. This, for example, is the case with certain Body Shop creams, sold in packaging which resembles that of old-fashioned preserves in glass jars. On the contrary, olive oil and balsamic vinegar presented in the form of sprays evoke the world of hairdressing. can see, for example, that there is enormous enthusiasm for black, associated with products that would like to appear sophisticated: packets of coffee or tea, luxury grocery products, perfumes. Despite – or because of? – its opaqueness, black is currently synonymous with luxury. The purity of white, on the other hand, has always been associated with cosmetics, but this colour also appears in certain foodstuffs packaging. As for gold and silver, they certainly symbolise luxury and “bling” but also maturity, including in the case of cosmetic products aimed at the “mature” skin. From the perspective of form, only luxury brands can allow themselves to produce unexpected packaging in more “noble” materials. One thus finds perfume bottles with seductive curves. But this deliberate originality is also reserved for alcohol and, since a short while ago, for mineral water, sold as a rare product. Already for some time now, producers have been practising a sort of confusion of genres that is definitely worthy of attention. Certain shapes and forms traditionally reserved for foodstuffs have been assigned to cosmetics, and vice versa. This, for example, is the case with certain Body Shop creams, sold in packaging which resembles that of old-fashioned preserves in glass jars. On the contrary, olive oil and balsamic vinegar presented in the form of sprays evoke the world of hairdressing. When it is necessary to economise on packaging, there’s nothing like making it attractive by devising an original graphic presentation. Whether this is done by recourse to humour (a dimension that can be observed in many British products) or by using photographs or carefully chosen illustrations, a very simple packaging can be transformed thanks to its graphic design. The Greek cosmetic products Korrès, which have won several awards for their original design, are a good example of this. Closer to hand, we must point out the intelligence of the Sélection product range sold by Migros. Their graphic design building on simple principles – gold line and white background – is able to promote elements that make their contents particularly attractive. Another section of the exhibition traces the evolution of certain packagings, notably thanks to a batch from the design collection of the Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich, which has loaned objects from the Swiss marketplace of the 1960s to 1980s. An exceptional collaboration with the patrimony of LU [a French biscuit manufacturer] permits us to analyse a specific case, that of the packaging of the famous Petit Beurre chocolate biscuits, devised by Raymond Loewy among others. In parallel, we present works by designers and artists who tackle the theme of packaging in their own fashion. The “Pack Sweet Pack” furniture range by the Big Game designer group hijacks the world of packaging’s standard reference systems and transforms them into furniture. As for the installation constructed from Tetrapack cartons by the graphic designers Bark of London, it develops a completely imaginary visual language and makes us aware of the impact on the observer of the graphic presentation of packaging. Finally, the “Supermarket” photographs by Frenchwoman Floriane de Lassée take into account the effect of massing with which we are all faced as we walk round a supermarket. All these deliberately off-centre observations on the theme permit the visitor to place a finger on the artificiality of packaging, while revealing to him/her the touches of inspiration offered by certain brands which have made their packaging into little treasure chests. via Artdaily

Fiat Adventure

New ad by Leo Burnett Argentina for Fiat. Photo by Juan Mathe

via Fubiz

Consumers in a downturn: a new spending habit? (part 1)

The business channel of The Atlantic Online published this weekend the first of two articles by Grant McCracken on the implications of the recession on consumer habits. This article just deals with three variations of a mere quantitative change. The qualitative change — where consumption patterns might change in kind and not just in quantity — will be addressed in a second piece. What will the current downturn might mean to consumers? Will their habits change in lasting ways? Could we return from the downturn to discover that consumers are a very different animal, that our economy runs on new principles. David Brooks wondered recently whether we might someday look like abstemious Amsterdam. There is a scarier prospect: that we might go the way of Japan. [...] Consumers scales back existing consumption habits. They buy the same things, roughly speaking, but they shift from expensive to cheaper versions, from big quantities to small quantities. This suggests a shift from European luxury cars to Japanese sedans, from luxury goods to something more generic, from national brands to store brands, from eating out to eating in, from steak to hamburger. The logic is a simple diminution, a quantitative change that produces no qualitative change. The world of consumer demand remains what it always was, scaled back for the moment in a managed retreat. When trust, job confidence, credit and prosperity are restored, the consumer will come charging back. All is forgiven. All is forgotten. We will party like it’s 1999. Read full story (alternate link) via Putting People First

A glimpse ahead: the Microsoft Office Labs

Microsoft just published a series of videos where they envision the future of work and life in the year 2019. From their websites, the Microsoft Office Labs:

Take a step into the future and get a glimpse into how technology may transform the way we live and work in the years ahead. Explore some of our concepts for how leading edge technologies might be used in real world settings – such as health care, manufacturing, banking and retail – over the next 5-10 years.

via The Customer Experience Labs‏

Here is the video that summarizes the different future visions.

Video: Future Vision Montage

Travel + Leisure Design Awards 2009

Via Travel + Leisure

Design and architecture shape every aspect of the travel experience, from airports and museums to hotels and luggage. For T+L’s fifth annual competition, an esteemed jury chose the very best in 15 categories.

Here the list of the T+L Design Award 2009 winners:

Best Retail Space: Puma City, various locations; designed by Lot-Ek.

Best Large Hotel: Mama Shelter; Paris; designed by Philippe Starck.

Best Small Hotel: Hotel Aire de Bardenas; Tudela, Spain; designed by Emiliano Lopez and Monica Rivera Arquitectos.

Best Spa: Hideaway Zighy Bay; Zighy Bay, Oman; designed by Six Senses Resorts & Spas.

Best Restaurant: Delicatessen; New York City; designed by Anurag Nema in collaboration with Mark Thomas Amadei.

Best Museum: CaixaForum Madrid; Madrid, Spain; designed by Herzog & de Meuron.

Best Cultural Space: National Opera House; Oslo, Norway; designed by Snohetta.

Best Public Space: TKTS Booth; New York City, designed by Perkins Eastman.

Best Transportation: Beijing Capital International Airport, Terminal 3; Beijing, China; designed by Foster and Partners.

Best Bridge: Jerusalem Light Rail Train Bridge; Jerusalem, Israel; designed by Santiago Calatrava.

Best Travel Fashion: Trench coat, Norma Kamali Collection for Wal-Mart; designed by Norma Kamali.

Best Camera: Mino Flip Video Camera.

Best Travel Accessory: Melissa Shoes; designed by the Campana Brothers, Zaha Hadid, Alexandre Herchcovitch and Vivienne Westwood.

Best Travel Gadget: SteriPEN Journey LCD Handheld Water Purifier.

Best Luggage: Hydro Sports Water-Resistant Backpack, T-Tech by Tumi.

Read the whole article at Travel + Leisure.via Butler

Shelter Creativity in Dubai

The shelter is a new hang out place for the creative community in Dubai. An innovation campus that allows ideas to exist in a creative environment. International participants who are working in the Emirates on a project basis can operate from the shelter through the shelter short lease program and can fill the application form below. Offices are fit out with the top of the range internet connection, a dedicated landline, printing facilities, a meeting room as well as an available secretary to arrange meetings and manage schedules.



the shelter
t +971.4.375.8078
f +971.4.429.0566
e frontdesk@shelter.ae
p.o.box 11370
Dubai, UAE
Shelter Map
The Shelter