News 10.06.2022

Need to Know

A Carlo Ratti installation creating clean energy, the FT’s socially conscious magazine rebranding and the global wellness sector is booming.

MDW: Carlo Ratti’s energy-producing urban gardens

Feeling the Energy by Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota for Plenitude as part of the Design Week’s INTERNI Re.Generation exhibition, Italy
Feeling the Energy by Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota for Plenitude as part of the Design Week’s INTERNI Re.Generation exhibition, Italy
Feeling the Energy by Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota for Plenitude as part of the Design Week’s INTERNI Re.Generation exhibition, Italy
Feeling the Energy by Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota for Plenitude as part of the Design Week’s INTERNI Re.Generation exhibition, Italy
Feeling the Energy by Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota for Plenitude as part of the Design Week’s INTERNI Re.Generation exhibition, Italy

Italy – Architects Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rato are transforming Milan’s Botanical Gardens into an energy park during Salone Del Mobile Milano 2022.

Feeling the Energy is an immersive installation that uses 500m of digitally bent copper pipe to form a path where people can explore different forms of sustainable energy production and consumption. As visitors wander through, they can explore six areas, including an Energy Carousel, Garden Orchestra, Powering Vibrations and a Solar Garden. Each section spotlights the experience of producing energy using the sun, wind and human movement.

Using the copper pipes, the installation harvests and stores energy during the day, powering water vaporisers that cool down and feed the garden's vegetation. ‘The installation is inspired by the functioning of plant organisms,’ suggests Carlo Ratti. 'As trees in a forest draw energy from different sources and then use it locally where they need it, the long copper tube of Feeling the Energy absorbs energy in its entire length and then uses it in specific points of the installation path.’

Envisaging the future of self-sufficient architecture, the installation breaks down the production of energy into a tangible and community-focused exercise. To read more about how infrastructure will be reworked to produce green energy for neighbourhoods, read our macrotrend Equilibrium Cities.

Strategic opportunity

With sustainability at the forefront of consumers’ minds, how can your brand or business use eco-materials to save and optimise resources such as energy?

MDW: Piro is a scent-diffusing robotic companion

Piro by IDEO and Moooi, Italy Piro by IDEO and Moooi, Italy
Piro by IDEO and Moooi, Italy Piro by IDEO and Moooi, Italy

Italy – Human-centred design studio IDEO has teamed up with interior designers Moooi to develop Piro, a scent-diffusing robotic companion for the home.

The scent machines were presented at Moooi’s A Life Extraordinary exhibition, hosted at Salone Del Mobile Milano 2022. The robots, which resemble the characteristics of Disney character WALL.E, welcomed visitors with a synchronised dance routine that concluded with a signature puff of fragrance. Throughout the exhibition, each robot character demonstrated their use in-situ, with mock-ups of home spaces created in collaboration with artists including Cristina Celestino, Andres Reisinger and Julia Esque.

‘The idea was to create something that lives in your house, but as an independent entity [with] no purpose other than to live in your house and be an occasional companion. Part of that was to bring you a gift of love. This would be a little pop of fragrance as a gift,’ says Thomas Overthun, executive design director at IDEO.

In light of the pandemic, our homes have increasingly become spaces of pleasure and comfort. Here, IDEO is showing how future-facing home devices can provide such comfort, alongside a personality that interacts with its surroundings and individuals.

Strategic opportunity

Technology is often about convenience and efficiency. Instead, consider how you can employ technology in service of care, comfort or companionship

A magazine rebranding fit for Uneasy Affluence

UK – The Financial Times newspaper is rebranding its nearly 30-year-old luxury supplement How To Spend It in recognition of consumers’ shifting attitudes to wealth and ostentation.

The title will now be known as HTSI – an acronym that the newspaper wants to be interpreted in new ways, from ‘how to style it,’ to ‘how to steer it,’ or even ‘how to save it’ – a pertinent suggestion at time when people across all social strata are feeling the impact of post-pandemic inflation.

According to editor Jo Ellison, ‘How To Spend It has always been about how we spend our time, and the content of the magazine embraces everything that is good in life. We have no intention of changing that. But we want the title and indeed our masthead to reflect a world with deeper sensitivities.’

In this way, the Financial Times is recognising and responding to the presence of Uneasy Affluence, in which both consumers and brands consciously adjust their products, services and spending to be more socially aware, accessible and supportive.

HTSI by Financial Times, UK

Strategic opportunity

Across demographics, luxury attitudes are in flux. How might you use branding, design and marketing to reflect the new ways in which people want to spend, save or use their wealth for social good?

Stat: Global wellness spending continues to grow

OEM, US OEM, US

The global wellness industry is showing no signs of slowing, with high spending rates and emerging markets representing new opportunities for companies in this sector. According to research by the Global Wellness Institute, one in every £16 ($20, €18.60) spent by consumers worldwide is on wellness. The sector is expected to be worth £5.6 trillion ($7 trillion, €6.5 trillion) by 2025.

While the US is the largest spending region, accounting for nearly 28% of the global wellness market, some countries in the top 10 according to wellness spending per capita are perhaps unexpected. These include Switzerland at £3,485 ($4,372, €4,072) per person, Iceland at £2,972 ($3,728, €3,472) and Aruba at £2,226 ($2,792, €2,600). With this in mind, wellness brands should adapt their products and strategies to cater for the interests of tourists and local people in these markets.

When doing so, it’s important to consider the lifestyle and environmental nuances that are also relevant to these markets – as we explore in Synchronised Care, there is an ongoing shift towards interconnected wellness that aligns the environments that we live in.

Strategic opportunity

With wellness front of mind for consumers, brands across sectors can integrate wellbeing practices and products into their existing services

Previous News Articles
Burberry revives archival outerwear for National Geographic documentary

News

Burberry revives archival outerwear for National Geographic documentary

Burberry’s latest archival display at its London Regent Street store celebrates Sir Ernest Shackleton’s legendary 1914 Antarctic expedition.
Luxury : Pop-culture & Media : Fashion
Gob launches mycelium-based earplugs

News

Gob launches mycelium-based earplugs

Gob is revolutionising the earplug market with a mycelium-based alternative that promises to eliminate the environmental impact of traditional disp...
Sustainability : Health & Wellness : Design
Brenda Lee’s holiday classic enters the AI era with Spanish re-release

News

Brenda Lee’s holiday classic enters the AI era with Spanish re-release

Brenda Lee’s iconic holiday song, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, has been re-imagined as Noche Buena y Navidad in a Spanish-language release po...
Technology : Pop-culture & Media : Society
Stat: US Gen Z are the most likely to hide their voting choices

News

Stat: US Gen Z are the most likely to hide their voting choices

An October 2024 Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll reveals that nearly half of Gen Z voters (48%) in the US have lied about their voting prefere...
Society : Youth : Politics
Camdom is the world’s first digital condom for safer intimacy

News

Camdom is the world’s first digital condom for safer intimacy

This Sexual Health Awareness Month, condom brand Billy Boy and creative agency Innocean Berlin unveiled Camdom, an app that acts as a digital condo...
Health & Wellness : Technology : Pop-culture & Media
Resting Reef memorialises pets as eco-friendly marine reefs

News

Resting Reef memorialises pets as eco-friendly marine reefs

Eco-friendly funeral company Resting Reef has launched a pet memorial service that blends pet ashes with crushed shells to create eco-friendly unde...
Design : Health & Wellness : Sustainability
Netflix new unveils Moments feature to save and share scenes

News

Netflix new unveils Moments feature to save and share scenes

Netflix has launched a new feature called Moments, allowing subscribers to bookmark, save and share their favourite scenes from shows and movies.
Technology : Pop-culture & Media : Society
Stat: Mars’ study reveals strong pet devotion

News

Stat: Mars’ study reveals strong pet devotion

Mars has unveiled ‘the largest global pet parent study to date’ of more than 20,000 pet owners across 20 countries.
Pets : Society : Retail
Samsonite’s new durable suitcase can survive travelling to the edge of space

News

Samsonite’s new durable suitcase can survive travelling to the edge of space

Samsonite has unveiled its latest innovation, the Proxis Space collection, setting new standards in travel gear with sustainability and advanced te...
Luxury : Travel & Hospitality : Design
The Saudi Investment Bank celebrates national identity with bespoke typeface

News

The Saudi Investment Bank celebrates national identity with bespoke typeface

The Saudi Investment Bank and creative agency Impact BBDO have launched I am Saudi, a campaign celebrating national heritage with a bespoke typeface.
Design : Advertising & Branding : Finance
You have 2 free News articles remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles.
BECOME A MEMBER
SIGN IN