Kondo became an international phenomenon in 2019 with the launch of her Netflix reality series “Tidying Up,” in which she helped people clean up their messy homes and declutter their spaces in an attempt to restore calmness and “spark joy” in their lives. While Kondo has long been devoted to decluttering “physical” spaces, her new book also stresses the importance of cleaning up mental and emotional spaces. In other words, keeping your clothes folded and organized can be just as important as listening to classical music in the morning or making time for your children.
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/marie-kondo-stops-tidying-up-home-messy-1235504610/
Category Archives: the home
We still use appliances like it’s 1970. There’s a better way.
“If automobiles were regulated to the same extent as household appliances, the average vehicle would be getting 60 miles per gallon and seat nine people,” says Pamela Klyn, an engineer and sustainability executive at Whirlpool, which manufactures 20 million products every year under brands including Whirlpool, Maytag and KitchenAid. Yet these appliances could be saving us even more water, energy and time — if we used them properly.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/24/home-appliance-myths-energy-saving-tips/
SAMSUNG AND PATAGONIA MAKE AN UNLIKELY PAIRING IN THE FIGHT AGAINST OCEAN MICROPLASTICS
Tech giant Samsung and eco-minded clothier Patagonia have teamed up to tackle ocean pollution. In a statement released earlier this month, Samsung says that “together, the companies are working on a feasible, effective and expandable way to combat the microplastics that result from textiles and laundry.”
https://futurevvorld.com/design/samsung-patagonia-microplastics-filter-washing-machines-ces-2022-ocean-pollution/
Digital Twins Are Set For Rapid Adoption In 2023
The idea of digital twins — digital representations of physical systems, products or processes that serve as indistinguishable counterparts for purposes such as simulations, testing, monitoring and maintenance — has been around for some time. But indications are the concept’s time has come for wider adoption to support business applications.
https://frankdiana.net/2023/01/24/digital-twins-are-set-for-rapid-adoption-in-2023/
Related Report: Pre-emptive Culture Mapping: Exploring a System of Language to Better Understand the Abstract Traits of Human Interaction | presentation slides
Apple to Expand Smart-Home Lineup, Taking On Amazon and Google
The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has struggled in the home space and has ceded much of the market to its rivals. Its current devices remain limited in their functionality, with Apple’s Siri voice-control service lagging behind Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant. The new devices — along with upcoming changes to Siri — are aimed at turning around Apple’s fortunes.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-18/apple-to-expand-smart-home-lineup-taking-on-amazon-and-google
Our Homes reveal the story of culture…. Do You Really Want a New Kitchen Counter?
A home plays two essential roles for many people: It’s the place you live your day-to-day life, and it’s the single most important asset you’ll ever have. Housing has served these dual purposes for much of the country’s history, but over the past 50 years in particular, as rising home values have far outpaced wage growth, Americans have begun to stake their financial future even more heavily on their home. If you’re one of the nearly two-thirds of adults in this country who own a home, it’s pretty likely that its potential sale price is a major factor in your long-term financial stability, even if you don’t plan to sell anytime soon.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/11/lifestyle-media-home-improvement-trends-obsession/672168/?utm_source=twitter&utm_term=2022-11-18T12%3A30%3A55&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social
Our homes reveal the story of culture…
A robust and standardized framework for reuse measurement is needed. Here’s why
Only 14% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling, with an effective recycling rate of approximately 2% globally. Reusable packaging, designed to be used several times, is necessary to reduce total virgin material consumption, emissions and waste generation by keeping resources in circulation.
Measurement and reporting is a significant barrier to scaling reuse models of consumption. There are currently no standardized and tested metrics to track progress on reuse, which is critical for companies to fully understand the economic, consumer and environmental benefits of reusable business models. Organizations still tend to operate in siloes, using different reuse metrics and calculation methodologies. Standardization of reuse metrics across industry, government and standard-setting institutions will accelerate the systemic shift toward reuse models.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/plastic-waste-reuse-measurement?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social_scheduler&utm_term=SDIM2022&utm_content=26/09/2022+00:00
IDSA Idea Gallery
This collection holds over 3,000 past Gold, Silver and Bronze winners, as well as Featured Finalists. It stands as an everlasting celebration of brilliance and is a comprehensive reference tool for designers around the world. The winners within this collection are responsible for billions of dollars in sales, have saved lives and have forever changed how people live, work and play. Apple’s original iPhone (Gold, 2008), Tesla’s Model S (Gold, 2013) and the Oculus Rift (Bronze, 2016) are just three recent examples of IDEA winners that have completely disrupted industry and society. This gallery displays the tremendous significance design has in business and beyond. Proving that great results can happen when design is leveraged to its fullest power.
https://www.idsa.org/IDEAgallery?combine=&term_node_tid_depth=383&field_year_value=All&field_idea_award_level_value=All&field_award_special_value=All
“The 21st Century” with Walter Cronkite March 12, 1967
Does the shift to a circular economy have a simple solution?
Hundreds of millions of tonnes of waste end up in landfills yearly – actual wastelands of everything from mattresses to electrical equipment to unworn clothes, determined to be worthless and no longer needed.
Extending the value of such things and the materials they’re made of will lessen our reliance on extraction – raw material extraction – something our current economy is pretty good at and which translates into high sales-related profits. This shift would stem the environmental impacts of extraction, such as polluting waste streams and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
“Using things longer” isn’t as simple as it sounds and understanding how to maximize the value of a product and its materials “post-consumer” is critical for a circular economy to work.
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 