“In a world where consumers want more, better and faster, we think Deliveroo is doing a good job,” concluded a report by the private investment bank Berenberg earlier this month. Plenty of people who make money from money are betting that Deliveroo is on a long-term path to profitability, even if its current set-up pushes the company further into the red with every order. “We truly believe we are still getting started,” declared Deliveroo’s founder, Will Shu, in a letter to prospective shareholders. “Join us on the journey.” But what is that journey’s ultimate destination? And what will the implications be – for the way we eat, the livelihoods of those who feed us and the future of our neighbourhoods – once we arrive? Read more (The Guardian)
Category Archives: living room
Kicking Back With La-Z-Boy
For the uninitiated, La-Z-Boy (an eponym on par with Band-Aid and Kleenex) makes a reclining easy chair—the first and, after nearly a century, still the leader. “La-Z-Boy has a 90-year heritage build on providing quality and comfort,” said the brand’s marketing vp Eli Winkler. “Those values are no less important to consumers to day than they were 90 years ago.” Spoken like a true marketer, but the comfort isn’t just a talking point—it’s the reason the brand is famous. Read more (Adweek)
The Tale of the Nauga’s Hide
The Nauga is a fictional creature. It was an advertising gimmick created to help Uniroyal Engineered Products promote their soft vinyl-coated fabric that feels like leather but is more durable. The product, Naugahyde, was used primarily as upholstery in the furniture industry, but also was used for clothing, shoes, accessories and other home goods. Its success spawned many imitators. In the mid-1960s, Uniroyal hired legendary ad-man George Lois and designer Kurt Weihs to craft an advertising campaign to differentiate their product from the competition. And what did Lois and Weihs create? The Nauga. Read more (Henry Ford Museum)
What is the dining table really for?
Dinner happens everywhere now: on the couch while streaming a television show, hunched over a kitchen countertop, on a commute home. The shift happened right under our noses — in a 2019 survey about cooking at home, while 72 percent of respondents grew up eating at a dining room table, only 48 percent of them still do so now. The American dining room is dying a slow death, and we’ve barely batted an eye. For the sake of convenience, we don’t sit down for capital-D dinner anymore. What has this fade into obsolescence done to the dining table, and to the people who once gathered around it to share a meal? The dining table hasn’t disappeared — there are plenty next to my family’s on Facebook Marketplace — but its meaning seems to have been altered forever. Read more (Vox)
Artist Krista Kim Lists First-Ever NFT Home for Sale
Contemporary artist Krista Kim’s latest project which features the first-ever sale of a digital home called the Mars House. Kim, who is responsible for high-tier collaborations with the likes of Lamborghini and Lanvin, just listed a neon-filled crypto abode filled with sharp, modern furnishings and complementing digitized adornments to boot. Most of the furniture items featured in the home can also be constructed in real life by glass furniture makers in Italy alongside MicroLED screen technology. The artist also teamed up with musician Jeff Schroeder of The Smashing Pumpkins to create an ambient soundtrack inside the virtual home. Read more (Hypebeast)
PORTL Holo, AR, VR
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.
Warner Bros. Says All 2021 Films Will be Streamed Right Away
Every movie on the 2021 Warner Bros. release calendar — including big-budget extravaganzas like “Suicide Squad 2,” “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Dune” and “The Matrix 4” — will arrive simultaneously in theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service in the United States, WarnerMedia said on Thursday. HBO Max subscribers will get instant access to 17 movies in total, a slate that easily represents more than $1 billion in production costs. Read more
How can we create new types of documentary experiences inside our living room, on a smartphone, in virtual reality or outside in public space? (conference talk)
With traditional exhibition venues and physical festivals hampered by a global pandemic, filmmakers and new media artists are exploring new platforms online and in public spaces. But if the last six months have taught us anything, it is that Zoom and Netflix are not the only answer. How are filmmakers and new media artists creatively responding to this challenge? What can filmmakers and artists from the interactive and immersive field learn from eachother? How can we create new types of documentary experiences inside our living room, on a smartphone, in virtual reality or outside in public space? How can they inspire new formats and even inspire audiences to see public space, the internet, and the physical world in a different light? Read more
