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Latest Reports
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New Exhibition Celebrates History of Plywood
New Exhibition Celebrates History of Plywood New Exhibition Celebrates Plywood The latest exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum is solely dedicated to plywood. 
Colour & Materials
Materials
21 Jul 2017
Hospitality’s Heightened Fitness Focus
Hospitality’s Heightened Fitness Focus Hospitality’s Fitness Focus From business travellers and tourists to hardcore athletes, maintaining fitness levels on the road has become a major priority. Catering to this need, opportunistic hoteliers, travel providers and fitness brands are developing agile and convenient products and services for on-the-go sports enthusiasts. 
Food, Beverage & Hospitality
Hotels
19 Jul 2017
LA Retail Openings, Summer 2017
LA Retail Openings, Summer 2017 LA Retail Openings, Summer 2017 LA sees a wave of retail openings for summer 2017 with a tech-enhanced menswear boutique, a video-focused eyewear concept, a purchase-for-special-access initiative, and a sustainability-encouraging vintage flagship sparking special mention. From womenswear expansions to streetwear launches, we select the highlights.
Retail
Store Concepts
17 Jul 2017
Destination Teen: Targeting Youth
Destination Teen: Targeting Youth Destination Teen: Targeting Youth From harnessing hangout culture, self-curation commerce and influencing upwards, to embracing the teen-specific trader mentality, Gen Z requires new retail landscapes to warrant their spending. We review the key concepts seducing the youth sector, including soft-sell brand temples, gateway beauty spaces and resale sweet spots.    
Retail
Store Concepts
17 Jul 2017
Wheelys’ Moby Mart: Self-Sustaining & Ultra Convenient
Wheelys’ Moby Mart: Self-Sustaining & Ultra Convenient 24/7 Mobile Robo-Store, Shanghai Pushing the perimeters of convenience retailing, Swedish coffee cart business Wheelys has collaborated with Hefei University of Technology and retail technologists Himalafy (both Chinese) on a self-driving staff-free store prototype. Available 24/7, the Moby Mart can be ordered to come to any neighbourhood in Shanghai (its beta-testing zone) via an app. 
Retail
Digital Commerce
12 Jul 2017
Light-Adaptive ‘Lumen’ Installation
Light-Adaptive ‘Lumen’ Installation Light-Adaptive ‘Lumen’ Installation The Museum of Modern Art in New York is hosting Lumen, an immersive installation made from robotically knitted textiles that adapt to their environment.
Colour & Materials
Architecture & Spaces
12 Jul 2017
The Hamptons Pop-Ups, Summer 2017
The Hamptons Pop-Ups, Summer 2017 The Hamptons Pop-Ups, Summer 2017 The Hamptons – Long Island’s prime summer beach escape for affluent New Yorkers – continues to play host to a wealth of pop-ups from brands looking to grab a foothold on luxury consumers’ radars. We highlight the most notable.
Retail
Highlights
10 Jul 2017
The Innovative Outdoors
The Innovative Outdoors The Innovative Outdoors Our gardens are changing. Robotic gardening tools lighten the workload, while fully equipped sheds and cooking facilities further elevate the outdoors as a continuation of the home. We explore the new furniture trends to suit this multifunctional update.
Product Design
Furniture
07 Jul 2017
Teen Brands Reboot the Colour Pink
Teen Brands Reboot the Colour Pink Teen Brands Reboot the Colour Pink No longer the preserve of sugary sweet brand concepts, pink has recently been transformed into a teen-targeting retail design must-have, thanks to its Insta-friendly buzz and soothing effect on shoppers – literally relaxing the muscles (Journal of Orthomolecular Psychiatry)
Retail
Store Concepts
05 Jul 2017
Custom Beauty: St. Ives Mixing Bar
Custom Beauty: St. Ives Mixing Bar Custom Beauty: St. Ives Mixing Bar Plugging into the booming appetite for customisation, St. Ives – the Unilever-owned brand of lotions and face scrubs – has launched a six-week Mixing Bar pop-up in SoHo, New York.
Retail
Store Concepts
03 Jul 2017
Retail City Guide: New York City, July 2017
Retail City Guide: New York City, July 2017 Retail City Guide: NYC, July '17 Retail highlights in NY this month include new luxury flagships (spanning from industrial chic to mid-century elegance), a flourishing Flatiron district homeware scene, Amazon’s physical NYC debut, and a slick streetwear space. Brooklyn welcomes several destination eateries, while art shows encompass both technologically innovative installations and inspiring retrospectives. 
Retail
Retail City Guides
03 Jul 2017
Retail City Guide: London, July 2017
Retail City Guide: London, July 2017 Retail City Guide: London, July '17 In London this July, several cult brands’ stores receive a revamp, a new space targets hardcore wine connoisseurs, and visually striking hospitality destinations make an entrance for high summer. Exhibitions tracking social issues dominate the art scene, while a scent show beguilingly connects creativity and commerce. We present the most inspiring hotspots. 
Retail
Retail City Guides
03 Jul 2017
Amazon Unveils Ethical Initiatives
Amazon Unveils Ethical Initiatives Amazon Unveils Ethical Initiatives Tapping into the growing trend for adopting a more understanding brand perspective (see Empathetic Brand Engagement), Amazon has launched two initiatives to bolster its wider ethical credentials. 
Retail
Insight & Innovation
30 Jun 2017
Empathetic Brand Engagement
Empathetic Brand Engagement Empathetic Brand Engagement Acutely aware of an increasing level of beyond-mainstream needs, smart brands are implementing empathetic engagement strategies – from senior-friendly store designs and initiatives aimed at easing the strains of modern family life, to services (including adjustable e-comm sites) sensitive to physical impairment or mental health issues.
Retail
Store Concepts
29 Jun 2017
Art Basel & Design Miami/Basel 2017
Art Basel & Design Miami/Basel 2017 Art Basel & Design Miami/Basel 2017 Together, Art Basel and Design Miami/Basel form an essential global showcase of contemporary art, highlighting rising stars of the art and design world and new works from more established names. We round up the most innovative use of colour and materials, relevant trends and the freshest talent from the fairs.
Colour & Materials
Arts & Pop Culture
27 Jun 2017
Sustainable Cities: Bird Street – The Tech-Boosted High St.
Sustainable Cities: Bird Street – The Tech-Boosted High St. Bird Street: Smart Shopping, London A new partnership between UK business management consultants New West End Company and European/US pop-up specialists Appear Here is upping the transient retailing ante with the launch of Bird Street in London. The joint venture will see the conversion of a relatively quiet street nestled just behind the shopping mecca of Oxford Street into a technologically enhanced, sustainability-focused ‘intelligent’ shopping street.
Retail
Store Concepts
26 Jun 2017
Venice Art Biennale 2017
Venice Art Biennale 2017 Venice Art Biennale 2017 Featuring the work of 120 artists over the course of seven months, the 57th international art biennale celebrates art as a vehicle for individual expression and freedom. Accompanied by 86 national pavilions and numerous other presentations, the event remains a fixture at the top of the international art calendar. 
Colour & Materials
Arts & Pop Culture
23 Jun 2017
NeoCon 2017: Office Trends
NeoCon 2017: Office Trends NeoCon 2017: Office Trends Premier contract furniture trade show NeoCon saw over 50,000 attendees and hosted 500 exhibitors at this year’s event in Chicago (June 12-14), with workplace design innovations including home interiors inspiration, active desk design and several new privacy booths. We select the highlights ­from this year’s summit.
Product Design
Furniture
23 Jun 2017
Biophilia-Boosted Store Designs
Biophilia-Boosted Store Designs Biophilia-Boosted Store Designs Humanising the store experience with plant life may seem simplistic, but in an increasingly urbanised world – 54.5% of the global population were living in cities in 2016, a figure projected to rise to 60% by 2030 (UN, 2016) – it’s a practice that’s being used to progressively compelling effect. Offering not only a softening influence but also a sense of transition, we spotlight four brands recently deploying it with success.
Retail
Store Concepts
14 Jun 2017
Voice-Controlled Ambience: Ikea Smart Lighting
Voice-Controlled Ambience: Ikea Smart Lighting Ikea Smart Lighting Ikea has launched a range of smart lighting kits – challenging the notion that intelligent lighting has to be expensive. Starting from £15 ($19) and offering various solutions from LED bulbs to panels, the collection now has added compatibility with Amazon Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant.
Product Design
Lighting
09 Jun 2017
Jewellery Retail’s New Horizons
Jewellery Retail’s New Horizons Jewellery Retail’s New Horizons From lab-grown diamonds taking gems beyond bridal and into a younger market, to deformalising fine jewellery, demi-luxe spin-offs and tech-assisted personalisation, a growing jewellery market offers major promise for brands that can retune their perspective. We review the key in-store and online tactics.
Retail
Store Concepts
08 Jun 2017
Dept. Stores Unveil Ultimate Wellness Venues
Dept. Stores Unveil Ultimate Wellness Venues Dept. Stores Escalate Wellness Two high-profile department stores have launched brand new wellness destinations designed to mainline the booming consumer appetite for all things wellbeing.  
Retail
Store Concepts
07 Jun 2017
NYCxDesign 2017 Highlights
NYCxDesign 2017 Highlights NYCxDesign 2017 Highlights Spanning the course of three weeks, New York’s annual design celebration NYCxDesign (May 3-25) showcased a wave of emerging international talent. Material combinations, sculptural experimentations and surrealistic design were all key themes across the shows, which included Wanted Design, Collective Design Fair and Sight Unseen Offsite. We select the highlights.
Product Design
Furniture
02 Jun 2017
Video: S/S 2019 Colour Spectrum & Materials Focus
Video: S/S 2019 Colour Spectrum & Materials Focus Video: S/S 2019 Colour & Materials Stylus's content and creative director Tessa Mansfield and Colour & Materials editor Lauren Chiu highlight the key colour and materials directions for Spring/Summer 2019.
Colour & Materials
Colour
01 Jun 2017
Office Design Entices Innovation and Collaboration
Office Design Entices Innovation and Collaboration Office Design Entices Innovation Companies are now investing in office design to boost innovation, encourage collaboration and reflect their specific industries. To attract the best talent, spaces focus on inspiring employees and showing off a strong company identity.
Product Design
Architecture & Spaces
01 Jun 2017
Retail City Guide: London, June 2017
Retail City Guide: London, June 2017 Retail City Guide: London, June '17 Fast fashion’s statement flagships, a beta-style bank shaking up fintech, and a luxurious, one-stop wellness destination are just some of June’s retail highlights, while exhibitions exploring gender and identity headline the art scene. Here, we present the month’s most inspiring creative and conceptual hotspots. 
Retail
Retail City Guides
01 Jun 2017
Future-Proof Hotels: Boutique Hotel Summit 2017
Future-Proof Hotels: Boutique Hotel Summit 2017 Boutique Hotel Summit 2017 This year’s Boutique Hotel Summit unpacked the industry’s most burning issues, including the evolution of hybrid hospitality, online travel agent platforms, power partnerships and the inevitable impact of global terrorism on travel brands.
Food, Beverage & Hospitality
Travel
31 May 2017
Filtered Reality: Materials
Filtered Reality: Materials Filtered Reality: Materials Filtered Reality explores shifting perceptions of nature in an increasingly virtual world. As augmented reality improves, digital overlays become more inherent to our everyday lives, impacting how we see and interact with materials. A complex, hybrid aesthetic emerges as new technologies seek to bridge the intersection between nature, man and science, and bring these elements closer together.
Colour & Materials
Materials Focus 2019
30 May 2017
Primal Power: Materials
Primal Power: Materials Primal Power: Materials Primal Power looks at natural resources in this progressive era, and considers how we can connect with ourselves and ground our surroundings by tuning into primal instincts. Polarisation is inherent in this theme, as we explore unlikely contrasts between earthen and engineered, as well as primitive and precise. Materials that blend the ancient with the super-technical and modern lend this direction an elemental mysticism.
Colour & Materials
Materials Focus 2019
30 May 2017
Concept Boutiques & New-Gen Dept Stores, Russia
Concept Boutiques & New-Gen Dept Stores, Russia Russia’s Rising Retail Talent Embracing an influx of travellers, especially from China (760,000 visited in 2016, up 44% since 2015 – Euromonitor, 2017), shrewd Russian retailers are investing in more conceptually exciting store designs. 
Retail
Store Concepts
30 May 2017
Extreme Sanctuary: Materials
Extreme Sanctuary: Materials Extreme Sanctuary: Materials In a world of political and environmental uncertainty, contemplative spaces that allow us to disconnect are increasingly valued. Combined with concerns about resource scarcity, this drives a shift towards self-sufficiency in off-grid destinations that fulfil a need for stillness and simplicity. Notions of nostalgia and domesticity are core, as we seek solace in luxury materials that provide comfort, protection and assurance.
Colour & Materials
Materials Focus 2019
30 May 2017
Human-Made: Materials
Human-Made: Materials Human-Made: Materials As robotics and artificial intelligence continue their takeover, we see a return to craft and a drive for more meaningful stories within products. Human-Made delves into our personal histories to share traditions, narratives, textures and materials that speak of particular times, places and cultures. We highlight creative interventions within industrial processes that are spurring innovation and supporting the preservation of employment and heritage.
Colour & Materials
Materials Focus 2019
30 May 2017
Overview: Materials Focus
Overview: Materials Focus Overview: Materials Focus The most influential materials innovations and aesthetic directions from across the creative and technology sectors are presented in our 2019 Materials Focus. This season's themes are Human-Made, Extreme Sanctuary, Primal Power and Filtered Reality.

In collaboration with our global materials experts, we highlight the essential and inspirational projects influencing material application and aesthetics, including actionable design developments. The Materials Focus is closely aligned with the Colour Spectrum, giving each theme a practical, yet progressive colour palette.

Alongside the four themes, we also provide a Materials Focus Evolution, which highlights three key material innovations that will have a strong resonance across the design industries for 2019. Here, we track important developments and analyse how they are impacting structure, finish, texture and material composites.
Colour & Materials
Materials Focus 2019
30 May 2017
Materials Focus 2019
Materials Focus 2019 Materials Focus 2019 The most influential materials innovations and aesthetic directions from across the creative and technology sectors are presented in our 2019 Materials Focus. This season's themes are Human-Made, Extreme Sanctuary, Primal Power and Filtered Reality.
Colour & Materials
Materials Focus 2019
30 May 2017
Christmas Design Direction: Fantasia
Christmas Design Direction: Fantasia Christmas Design Direction Fantasia Eclectic and with a more-is-more approach, Fantasia takes visual influences from both fairy tales and cultures around the world. Novelty sequins, fake fur and pattern collages are united by their saccharine palette.
Product Design
Seasonal
26 May 2017
Christmas Design Direction: Frost
Christmas Design Direction: Frost Christmas Design Direction: Frost Inspired by glacial landscapes, ice and snow, ephemeral direction Frost is underpinned by cool hues and white light. Geometric shapes and a focus on illuminated installations bestow a technological edge.
Product Design
Seasonal
26 May 2017
North American Furniture: ICFF 2017
North American Furniture: ICFF 2017 North American Furniture: ICFF 2017 The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), the largest North American contemporary design event, attracted 800+ exhibitors to New York this year (May 21-24). From the roster of global companies showcasing home and commercial goods, we select the highlights with a focus on North America – where a growing number of small design businesses are creating luxe products from scratch in their own studios or close to home.
Product Design
Interior Styling
25 May 2017
Air-Cleaning Bicycle for Smog-Free Cities
Air-Cleaning Bicycle for Smog-Free Cities Air-Cleaning Bicycle Following the success of his Smog Free Tower in Beijing, a structure that collects polluting particles from the air, Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde is now proposing a new iteration of his innovation: the Smog Free Bicycle. Part of a growing project, the design aims to improve China's poor air quality by making people part of the solution.
Product Design
Product Innovation
23 May 2017
Clydesdale’s Beta Bank Shapes Fintech Future
Clydesdale’s Beta Bank Shapes Fintech Future Clydesdale Reinvents Retail Banking In a bid to futureproof against disruptive challenger brands, Scottish bank Clydesdale has opened a wow-factor hybrid space in London featuring an interactive fintech expo, a working innovation lab and a conventional bank branch. 
Retail
Store Concepts
19 May 2017
RDE, 2017: Pace, Personas & Pursuing Glocal
RDE, 2017: Pace, Personas & Pursuing Glocal Retail Design Expo 2017 Pace-changing store formats, ‘glocalisation’, BYO tech, targeting new persona profiles and both empathetic and ‘freestyle’ staffing initiatives headlined discussions at the Retail Design Expo, 2017 – a show connecting store designers, strategists and brand experience experts. We distil the highlights.
Retail
Store Concepts
17 May 2017
Video Summary: The New Rules of Luxury
Video Summary: The New Rules of Luxury Video: The New Rules of Luxury Head of Media & Marketing Christian Ward, head of Consumer Lifestyle Hayley Ard and head of Retail Katie Baron highlight the latest Macro Trend from Stylus: The New Rules of Luxury.
Stylus
Stylus
15 May 2017
Audio Systems Reconsidered
Audio Systems Reconsidered Audio Systems Reconsidered Home sound systems are moving away from conventional stereo sets and seamlessly blending into interiors. Meanwhile, material innovation and customisable user interfaces offer new audio experiences.
Product Design
Consumer Electronics
12 May 2017
The New Rules of Luxury
The New Rules of Luxury The New Rules of Luxury The New Rules of Luxury takes a fresh look at a market where consumers may well be looking for less. While tradition still has its place for many luxury companies and their customers, the principles of exclusivity are shifting as global shoppers embrace a new world of luxury values.
Trend Reports
Insight & Innovation
11 May 2017
Basement Bourgeoisie
Basement Bourgeoisie Basement Bourgeoisie Whether they are hibernating in super-basements, opting for covert lifestyles or going off-plan, the basement bourgeoisie are reclaiming secrecy and silence as marks of exclusivity. Here we explore how to win the interest and trust of a new generation of luxury consumers.
Consumer Lifestyle
Insight & Innovation
11 May 2017
Luxury Design Recalibrated
Luxury Design Recalibrated Luxury Design Recalibrated Global awareness of environmental shifts and resource scarcity – coupled with rapid technological acceleration – are reframing the ideals and status symbols of the luxury sector. We highlight the latest product innovations driven by high-end demand and the avant-garde designers pushing new perceptions of precious via storytelling, seamless experiences, sustainability and self-sufficiency.
Product Design
Insight & Innovation
11 May 2017
Re-Engineering Exclusivity
Re-Engineering Exclusivity Re-Engineering Exclusivity The spectre of automation, social media’s warping of brand hierarchies, and a peak-product era where access beats ownership mean retail’s luxury rulebook requires an urgent rewrite. From tapping intellectual affluence and the self-acceleration economy, to tiered prestige, humanised fantasies and temporal wealth, we reveal the new formulas for success.
Retail
Insight & Innovation
11 May 2017
Retail Design: Innovative Fitting Rooms
Retail Design: Innovative Fitting Rooms Innovative Fitting Rooms, 2017 The fitting room’s capacity to convert initial engagement into cold hard sales is a considerable piece of any retailer’s arsenal – yet many brands are still neglecting these spaces. Fifty per cent of US consumers who use them go on to purchase three or more items, but 93% don’t enjoy the experience – citing discomfort, stress and lack of immediate assistance as three key reasons why (Indyme, 2015).
Retail
Highlights
10 May 2017
Primal Power: Colour
Primal Power: Colour Primal Power: Colour In this era of rapid technological acceleration, an internal human conflict arises between the allure of the new, next and better, and our primal instincts. This polarised and energetic theme sees the ancient and primitive fused with the futuristic and progressive as sun-baked, earthy hues are paired with ultra-modern, responsive colour. 

The core primitive palette of dark Carbon Soil, light and translucent Flax and human, earthy Bordeaux Red is complemented with contemporary neutrals of Opal Grey and Khaki Green. These provide a solid backdrop for vivid accents of reflective Coral and Chemical Green. Dark blue Royal Sapphire and Mahogany Lustre lend a dark, sophisticated richness to the palette, while Himalayan Salt provides a summery, fresh pastel lift.
Colour & Materials
Colour Spectrum S/S 2019
05 May 2017

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