Archive for May, 2009

Although ‘innovative environment for creative encounters’ might sound like the description of a swingers club for the highly flexible, it’s actually the description of a striking ‘living’ project at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai where the exhibition space extends into the museum restaurant/ café.

The mission behind the project is innovation and boundary-pushing programming that will keep visitors coming back. As exhibition coordinator Diana Freundl explains; “museums can no longer just wait for people to come in – we have to go out and get them.”

With this in mind, they have transformed the third floor of MoCA through contemporary artworks, design, inspired cuisine, performance, talks and lectures. After just one year of existence it has established itself as a cultural hub in vibrant, contemporary Shanghai.

While some of the revenue generated goes into paying the museum’s overheads, it has also provided the opportunity for cross over with the cultural sections of consulates. With Art Lab’s support, these organisations now have a fresh platform on which to help encourage more experimentation within the city’s cultural life.

Celebrity endorsement has taken a grotesque turn – news reaches us that licensing company Greenlight has been appointed to handle the rights for music legend Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash. The strategy: to posthumously re-establish them as the “original Brangelina”, we kid you not.

The more high-culture the figure, the more desirable they are to brands who are now vying to associate their products with prominent artistic figures to leverage to their cultural currency.

The name Warhol is saturated with cultural clout and possesses astronomical marketing value. The fashion industry in particular has embraced the artist’s design, with companies such as Levi Strauss, Pepe Jeans and Diane von Furstenberg adapting Warhol images into their own ranges and it doesn’t stop there. Burton Snowboards has its own Warhol inspired range, there is a Warhol homeware collection and last Christmas Nuit Blanche launched a range of Andy Warhol chocolates and biscuits for Europe. Represented by Beanstalk licensing group, the Warhol brand has become increasingly prominent for consumers and there are currently plans to secure licenses in the children’s apparel, vodka and eyewear sectors.

Consumer demand is greater than ever before for products that reflect the passions and trends of the consumer. Licensed products allow buyers to express themselves creatively, with the class and provocative style for which Andy Warhol is known whilst also upholding the legacy of one of the worlds most respected artists.

So enough with the touchy-feely stuff. We bring you yet more news of Google’s efforts to document our every waking activity by developing an algorythm to identify staff that are most likely to quit. Sure for now it’s just being used to try to retain their most talented employees but where will it end, dear reader. Where will it end?

Read the full story here.

Although anyone currently using the Royal Mail postal service is likely to experience delays of up to 30 years, as far as we know these delays are not officially part of the service. Douceurs (bad name, great product), however, have made delayed mail their USP.

Simultaneously reviving the art of letter writing and giving it an utterly modern facelift, Douceurs will store your letter for up to 30 years and then post it to the intended recipient as a message from the past.

We at Intelligent Naivety are all in favour of the digital era (you might have guessed..?) but critics claim it has delivered the ability to communicate in great volume and little meaning (twitter, anyone?), which is probably why this service stopped us in our tracks.

Macabre, useless or poetic? Answers on a postcard.

Visit their website.

Howzabout this as a heart-warming allegory for the democratising power of the world-wide-web:
Kickstarter.com is a new artist-initiated web community that crowd funds great ideas. A bit like an online ‘Dragon’s Den’ (without the ritual humiliation, tears and smug millionaires), a community of backers donate sums of money to support the realisation of projects they like. Kickstarter’s kickback is that project creators reward their backers in lots of individual ways… none of them financial

Just as soon as the Guardian reported China’s first sex-theme museum had opened for business, it was closed again.

The theme park was, apparrently, a way for China to tackle taboos but today’s Guardian reports that it has fallen foul of the wrecker’s ball before it even opened, after officials deemed it an “evil” influence.

Developers billed the attraction in Chongqing as tasteful and socially beneficial. But senior officials conducted an emergency tour of Love Land last weekend after it attracted worldwide publicity, state media reported today.

“The park was above board, so why was it pulled down? How can a country get powerful if it doesn’t open its mind?”

Go to The Guardian

We know we’ve already brought you a million pop-up shops but up they keep popping and, when they’re as cool as this one is, we’ve just gotta keep on telling you about them. Open for just two weeks, this candy-coloured emporium of all that is cool in art, design, fashion and even sweeties, closes on 28th May.

Brought to us by Kate Moross, a girl (can we say girl?) of apparrently limitless talent and Silver Spoon attire. Keep your eyes peeled for a limited run of 143 tees from Gio-Goi, each screen printed and individually numbered by Kate herself.

http://www.143presents.com/

A Lancashire seaside resort is using a dash of French glamour and internet social networking sites to boost holidaymaker numbers. A new YouTube film, complete with sexy French accents, promotes Blackpool as a sophisticated place. The aim of the film is to attract visitors who may have traditionally felt that Blackpool was not for them.

Watch the film here.

Paul Smith has produced 138 bag designs to be showcased at London’s Design Museum, in an exhibition that looks to promote individual design in the face of mass production and the economic downturn.

Smith’s exhibition Project 10 follows his announcement that his company has ‘only been affected in a very small way by the financial situation’ and that ‘keeping creative has put us in good stead’.

The ‘flight bags’, decorated in graphic prints or Smith’s signature multi-stripe design, re-evaluate large-scale manufacture, according to the designer.

Nina Due, head of exhibitions at the Design Museum, says, ‘Smith’s bags demonstrate his intuitive design approach and passion for the unique and crafted.’

The designs can be seen at the Design Museum, London SE1, from 18 May to 1 June.

The thing with social media is that most of us are only just beginning to explore how they can work for our sector. We’re all on Flikring and Twittering but do any of us completely understand why? Having the kind of inherrent understanding about how to deploy these media the kind of authentic and convincing way that allows communities to spring up around us is something most of us can still only aspire to. Worse still, short of bringing our 15 year old siblings into the office for a tutorial there’s not much help around to really explain community creation through social media to dummies, which is why this article from Alison Driscoll on Mashable.com appreared just in the nick of time.

According to Alison an effective Facebook page not only attracts fans, but is sticky so that fans keep coming back and may even share the content on the page. To do that, you need a well thought out profile that has some great applications supported by good, relevant content. Click here for the full article and eight tips for creating a sticky page (which up until now was something we thought was worth avoiding).

The latest country to get the MoMA Design Store treatment is a land more known for samba and sunshine than for industrial design. Playing to Brazil’s strengths, the exclusive collection is heavy on handmade objects that take advantage of indigenous natural resources, such as this centipede-inspired fruit bowl composed of coconut fibers, sugar cane and wood.

Also featuring both established and up-and-coming designers, MoMA’s buyers came up with an appreciable assortment of home accessories, jewelry and more that evoke the colors and forms of Brazil, like Francesca Romana Diana’s bangles, which replicate the famous Ipanema and Copacabana sidewalks and the silhouette of the Corcovado Mountain.

Spanning time periods, there’s also a mix of old and new, including the classic Mocho Stool from Sergio Rodrigues. The 1954 design interprets the traditional milkmaid’s stool used throughout Brazil, using the same local eucalyptus wood of the original. Representing Brazil’s contemporary national identity, the Campana Brothers’ keep it modern with their new sushi bowl, a kaleidoscope of colors and materials rolled together in a manner implied by the name.

Some words on retail from the legendary Coolhunter.

We love great retail. We want to find it; we use it as therapy, as entertainment, as an escape, as fantasy. Yet great retail stores are much scarcer than mediocre stores. We all can list many stores that underwhelm us, yet we visit them daily. Mostly, because we must. Just think of your run-of-the mill grocery store, convenience store, drug store, gas station, department store, big box. Even the newest “concept” versions of many brands are bland, boring and basic; designed for the retailer and its suppliers, not the consumer. They are designed and re-designed without challenging old retail “truths,” and so the result is the same old.

We as consumers shop for two broad reasons: Either because we must, or because want to. We have resigned to the fact that when we shop for items we must buy — gasoline, medicine, food — the stores will not look great. And yet, we’d most likely prefer shopping at a gas station that isn’t scary, dirty, neon-lit and dull, or in a drug store that doesn’t look like a warehouse for the most powerful brands. Even in today’s multi-channel environment where consumers can stay at home and shop for necessities online, many retailers still assume that consumers don’t notice or care.

As business people, and as consumers, we know that retail today is more challenging and complicated than ever. Consumers shop less and demand more from each experience. They spend less and demand more value. In all categories and at all price levels, consumers look for value in the end, but value is not the same as cheap. Value is defined by the consumer as: Is it really worth my time, attention, money? The joy, prestige and pleasure produced by a newly acquired tech-toy or pair of shoes — expensive as they may be — make them worth the price to the consumer. And if the shopping experience was awesome, we have something more to tell our friends.

Regardless of segment or even price, today’s power retail is all about authenticity, consistency and experience. Retailers must be nimble and adaptable, and evolve with consumers’ tastes and needs. Consumers can find everything online, so the in-store experience must give them something that is much, much better. Stores must be relevant, engaging, fresh. They must offer an emotional connection, interaction, excitement.