As someone who was deeply invested in the era of peak food-blogging in the mid- to late-aughts, I have, in the past, enjoyed many an artful photo of moist cake slices or runny-yolked eggs. Styling these images to pop on Tumblr or Instagram takes real, undeniable skill. But, it’s only recently that I’ve realized that I have moved beyond those specific visual pleasures. After nearly two decades as a social media user, I’ve grown tired of how images, specifically of food, are often presented — that is, perfectly. Read more (Refinery29)
Category Archives: kitchen
How Ikea created a ‘ScrapsBook’ that turns kitchen waste into culinary wonders
“By inspiring our customers to live more sustainably at home in an easy and simple way, we’re doing our part as a business to have a positive impact, from our supply chain through our retail stores, and into our customers’ homes,” explains Johanna Andren, head of marketing for IKEA Canada. Read more (Drum)
How the Cookbooks of 2020 Tell the Stories of Our Pandemic Kitchens
From beans and baking projects to vegan and global recipes, the year’s best sellers show the ways home cooking changed, and what may lie ahead. Read more (NY Times)
What if USPS delivered local produce in the mail?
Farmers Post would let people sign up for cheap boxes of fresh produce from their local farms and get them delivered to their door. Read more (Fast Company)
Biff’s Launches “World’s First” Vegan Junk Food Tasting Menu, Sells Out in 48 Hours
Launched in collaboration with Restaurant Kits, the founders of Biff’s describe the concept as “naughty cuisine meets haute cuisine mash up, this filthy ‘fine dining’ experience takes gourmands on a journey through vegan indulgence, moving between comfort food classics from Biff’s legendary fryers, to plant-based, takes on some street food favourites.” Read more (vegconomist)
How Did Our Fridges Get So Big?
The pandemic and the lockdowns have changed the way many people use their kitchens, and designers are rethinking them as well. I have noted in a previous post on design trends that people are cooking more, and that preparing food has become more of a family affair, so I have been forced to reconsider my case for closed, rather than open kitchens. Read more (Tree Hugger)
Insect Market To Explode: EU Gives Green Light To Eating Mealworm
Yellow mealworm is soon to appear on European menus, in bars, smoothies and burgers, after the EU decided that they are safe for human consumption. It’s just the first insect that will be hitting supermarket shelves–the EU is likely to approve others soon. Read more (Forbes)
Panera Bread is testing out ghost kitchens, mobile kitchens, and unveiling virtual catering
Coming off a year of innovation during the pandemic, Panera Bread is looking to go all-in on convenience technology in the future, with ghost kitchens, mobile kitchens, virtual catering, and redesigned drive-thru lanes already in the works, Panera Bread CEO Niren Chaudhary told Nation’s Restaurant News. Read more (Restaurant News)
The New Comfort: what does “home” mean in 2021?
Out with clean white spaces, and in with tactile havens. The interior mood right now is anything but sterile Read more
Home Trends 2021
Home Trends 2021 (Google Slides)
Home Trends 2021 (PDF download)
MACRO TREND THEMES: Resisting the bunker mentality; Taming the panopticon; Remembering humanity; Rethinking the healthy home; Ongoing evolving migration patterns; Aging populations; Rethinking what brings us joy; Rethinking the commoditization of home; Responsibility as the foundation; Reframing time and space; Making sense of place; Empowering agile materials and techniques; Adaptive and predictive machines for living; Expanding concepts of experience
CES 2021 PRODUCT TREND THEMES: (Whole House) Quick fixes; Empowering devices; Flexibility and adaptability; Ongoing data collection (Kitchen) Design Styling; Adaptive Living; Cultivating and experimenting; Circular rituals (Living Room) Aspirational space; Immersiave space; Human experiences; Designed to protect (Bedroom) Shelter in place; Maximizing downtime; Curative space; Proactive inducement (Bathroom) Prescriptive formulas; Immersive and responsive; Health maintenance; Self-sustaining efficiency
“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims,” said R. Buckminster Fuller. Out of necessity, the future of our homes is coming at us fast. It is loaded with technology and all that tech can do. We need to quickly understand and get ahead of this evolution of home design so that we can better inform what we need. The opportunities for home design will come from a better understanding of how human traits of behavior are adapting to change as well as earlier detection and action on the fragility of our future.
To better understand the context of what is emerging out of this COVID19 moment for home design, we looked at home-related products that will be shown at CES 2021.
We processed concepts through scenarioDNA’s culture mapping matrix to differentiate disruptive from emerging and residual from dominant codes. The analysis reveals greater opportunities to redirect new technologies to more abstract aspects of behavioral change.
Products and ideas exist across a spectrum of archetypes from residual to disruptive. What we are seeing in this is a trajectory of trends. The concern for makers is to understand where you are as a brand in relation to how people are thinking. The most provocative concepts are often the mundane ones that have an impactful tweak. Think of ambient light solar power and hydro-powered speakers informing future off-the-grid possibilities. Knowing what we are feeding now is critical.
Necessity continues to breed invention. At CES 2021, products shown reflect our time: air purification, entertainment, healthcare. Truly compelling is how we are handling the prospects of inclusivity, scarcity and waste. The recent scarcity of necessities has expedited new means of creation and new perspectives. Consider the device that uses an electric catalyst to turn water into plentiful disinfectant. Or the enzyme-powered compost that turns organic waste into air. We need to think ahead like that.
