designing sustainable retail environments

Check this article out for information about some great thinking about retail.

Howies sample sale

Well I spent way too much money but hey once a year is fine. I loved the store though. They (howies) set it up in what used to be Woodies Emporium. It was a nice mix of finishes and also very in line with the pop-up retailing outlets I have been looking at over the last month or so. Even the blutac was green.

Finally taking shape

Well it's taken some time but we are nearly there. 'Cradle' is a project I have been working on now for the last few months (as you may have gathered from my previous articles about new products and cradle to cradle – C2C), Cradle – will fingers crossed be launching in a few months time and is aimed at selling only C2C products. The project is one of the most challenging I have been involved in as the current C2C products out there are few and far between, also they are from hugely different arena's. For example Steelcase has a number of it's office chairs that are C2C, then there is a surfing company that has had it's sex(surf) wax accredited as C2C. With regards to the branding and the project I will keep you informed on this blog, however 'Cradle' launched on twitter yesterday so check out how it's going on a minute to minute basis. Just search for cradlecardiff. We have grand plans for developing and evolving the brand over the next 5 years or so, so it is an exciting time for all of us involved.

So can we control consumption?

I have been looking into this question for a number of months now. For many the gut reaction is consumption is bad and we should reduce our output of products that saturate the market place. Another viewpoint though would be to look again from a clean slate, starting at the beginning to see if we can consume, but in different ways. An interesting project that my colleague Andrew found was WANT. The article originally posted on Core 77 is an interesting one in the sense of consumption and the questioning of consumption.

Temporary experiences

Following on from a number of recent blogs I came across a concept setup by BONJIN. Bonjin eatery has been going now for around 2 years serving Japanese food in the New York area. At first that does not seem very different to any other Japanese restaurant. The difference is that they use other peoples kitchens and move from kitchen to kitchen every month or so. This one-off feel to the whole dining concept follows on from the article I reported on with the mobile Taco company that advertises through twitter, and also the manipulation of the billboard into a brand new retail space.

Japan as a culture seems to always come up with these type of ideas, indeed Bathing Ape's Nowhere pop-up shops probably started this trend and it does seem that the customer is going to be more and more looked up rather than the customer visiting the retail space. 

Of the moment retailing

Further to my last few posts about retail and the immediacy of shopping. I was walking through Cardiff this weekend, and came across the below umbrella sales person. What I love about this is that the day up until that point had been a bit cold but fair sunny and there was not much of an indication of the forthcoming deluge. This then really is almost like parasitic retail i suppose. Utilising an overwhelming event that can then be taken advantage of. I am sure this must have been written about before, but in particular I like the supply and demand of it and possibly the idea of the question in the future of ownership I mean people buying these umbrella only need the umbrella for the experience of shopping through Cardiff they don't need it after so maybe it's not sold but rented??

ice cream vans and moving libraries

I had this idea of movable retailing and then had a look (ok I was spying) on Andrews blog saw him writing about Kogi, a Korean BBQ company based in Amercia. they actually use twitter to tell there customers where they are going to be.

For his full story see here

Pop up shops required

Saw this piece in Design Week recently. Ethical shoe retailer Terra Plana is seeking designers to help create a series of pop-up shops. Starting this year, Terra Plana hopes to open pop-up shops across the world, beginning in London.

The company says it is seeking ‘creative ideas and approaches, centred around sustainable, mobile, short-term shop design’, according to a statement.

It adds that it is seeking designers who ‘are able to produce imaginative retail solutions to a limited budget’.
Terra Plana opened its latest permanent store at Westfield last autumn, co-designed by furniture and product design group Hotcakes and Terra Plana’s head shoe designer Asher Clark.

It reminds me of the Japanese stores that spring up every now and again in Tokyo.