Do not walk on this carpet!

We make carpets designs graphic "carpets" with the most ordinary everyday things like pasta and plastic forks. Take a look at their work on their blog - it's great fun!

Throwing away years of beautiful excess - the "green" alternative

As I contemplate upgrading my computer, my office is still bulging at the seams, years after so much information has been placed online. How can that be? I have a collection of catalogs that are exquisitely designed with gorgeous images on top quality paper stock, and I just couldn't bear to part with them. As I spend more time with my avocation - photography, I need to make room and out these magazines and catalogs must go.

I think that part of the reason I hate to part with this bounty is that I know that the era of excess is "so" over. We will never see this quantity or quality of marketing materials again. It may even be valuable some day, but who has the room to store it all? I will miss it, but as with clothing - if I haven't looked at it in two years, it has to go. With my clothes - dropped off at Goodwill, I "imagine" they have an afterlife. With this printed material, the best afterlife I can hope for is newspaper stock.

In my cleaning frenzy, I found a green statement for ARPA USA that I wrote long before the exaggerations of the scientific community plying us with propaganda was discovered. It turned out not to be the propaganda that changed the world, but the economy. So here is the statment, more valid today than ever:

"The word “green” is on the tip of every tongue these days, the entire world wants to be eco-sensitive, but what they mean by “green” is complex and not at all clear - there are no common meanings or uniform standards within or across industries. “Global warming” has already been replaced by the phrase “climate change” because there is so much conflicting information. Yet, we know with certainty that our overburdened land fills, air quality, water scarcity, and energy costs must be addressed now. We can agree to the fact that we must preserve natural resources, avoid toxic emissions, and use materials that are durable and low maintenance. The entire construction industry has a major impact on environmental issues and ARPA considers the environmental impact in every new product development and manufacturing decision.

No one wants to “harm” the planet or leave a polluted and unlivable environment for future generations, so North America, seen as both the land of plenty and at the same time wasteful by the rest of the world, is finally doing some serious thinking about the real effects of their choices on the future of the planet. Environmental issues have always been different in Europe, with a higher population density throughout the continent - land, water and energy were always scarce and a heightened concern for air quality has been critical to the health of the entire population. ARPA was founded in this environment, so from its beginnings had a discipline and strong commitment to sustainability and resource efficiency. ARPA continually eliminates waste and makes improvements in raw material selection, manufacturing processes, packaging, and transportation. At the same time, equal consideration is given to the safety and sustainability of the product for the end-user.

In creating a green building the specifier and end-user also bear some responsibility. They must select appropriate materials and methods to minimize the overall environmental impact. How durable should the product be? How long will it be in use? What are the budget considerations? Does it affect the indoor air quality? How will it be maintained? What happens after its useful life? The wrong material choices can have considerable environmental impact. Tearing down a 10,000 square foot building instead of refurbishing it will cancel out the environmental saving of recycling millions of liquid containers. It is important to compare comprehensive life-cycle data in assessing a material for use in a particular setting.

The green building movement is just beginning to build a database of the life-cycle environmental impact of different materials and ARPA is one of the few manufacturers that have created an environmental profile for their products. Some natural materials appear to be green, while man-made materials are often overlooked - yet when comparing their life cycle costs, the resource-extraction and processing may make a natural material much less earth-friendly than a man-made material that can be used in its place.

The responsibility of building a more sustainable future falls equally on us all, and ARPA will continue to do their part in the future as they have in the past."

The consumer and his brain

Last year it was orange juice cartons, this year it was The Gap's new logo that laid a total goose egg with both the graphic arts community and consumers. There was much discussion and analysis over the proposed but never implemented new logo, with my favorite being the "New Scientist's" discussion of the neurological best practices that Gap broke with their new design. I only wish I could have been as articulate as this article or had these facts available when first seeing a new - which could only be described as awkward - logo a previous employer did implement many eons ago.

Color WOW

Canon Pixma: Bringing colour to life from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

If either color or photography fascinate you as much as they do me and you have a deep pockets promotional budget, then this video explaining Canon's new ad campaign will interest you. Delight in color is universal, and our neutral interior spaces, no doubt, are largely influenced by the prolific colors available in our media and devices. Everything that I see, points to this as a continuing trend. Without question, the challenge for finishes is to both stay neutral and be interesting enough to engage the design community and consumer.

Still too many choices!

It is the nature of design centers to offer lots and lots of choices, but I have to ask myself, at what point does it become too much? Recently I was in the Boston Design Center waiting to go to a presentation and looking for inspiration in a showroom. I have to admit, that I couldn't even get myself to pull back the racks, even the brochures of the Fall 2010 introductions couldn't entice me - until I saw the William Yeoward Aranjasa Collection - a refreshingly casual collection of stripes in subtle classic colors inspired by Spain, Norway and Sweden. The color palette and lifestyle photographs in the brochure are what drew my attention.

Did it make me smile because it reinforced one of my trend themes or because it was a beautiful fit for New England interiors? I suspect a little if both, and I will remember it for future projects, with my mind uncluttered by the racks of thousands of fabrics that I didn't bother to even take a look at.

This particular collection may have just touched on my personal taste, but I can't help but think that at least 3/4 of the products in any showroom are superfluous, and that even designers would welcome some type of editing. So many companies are reluctant to discontinue even the most outdated of products. I wonder whether anyone does the accounting on this? Design Centers are not retail stores, but all that excess stuff is confusing to customers that are used to the spare editing of a Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel. No one wants a fabric or tile showroom to look like these stores or a Home Depot, but being customer friendly is a win-win for all.

Interesting pespective on Materials

Vegans aside, who knew that the designer Christien Meindertsma has created such an interesting take on materials. Her perspective on the "pig" in PIG 0 5049 takes us to material use both in and beyond the built environment. I was hesitant to even look at this video until I realized that her crocheted rug was a part of my recent trend report. This thoughtful, creative and charming designer speaks to us with an interesting voice and her vision is one to watch in the future.

Market insights are now critical

Academic jargon aside, pay close attention to the McDonald's story in the Wharton marketing professor George Day's conversation about his recent book Strategy from the Outside In: Profiting from Customer Value. This conversation is timely, since in recessionary periods, the easy fixes are not as effective as in growth periods. It may seem obvious, but my past experience tells me that this topic needs constant reintroduction. I spent years with pressure to add more outlets to reach that monthly bottom line, rather than the entire management team taking a systemic look at what might create real growth. According to the article in Knowledge @ Wharton, Professor Day's research, the "outside in" approach to marketing is as rare as ever - an idea whose time comes again and again - renewed in every business cycle.

Conversation or noise?

I just attended a informative presentation on "social media" at the Boston Design Center given by the VP of Marketing for Kravet. (Kravet blog) Design fabric houses live in an extremely competitive environment, so I understand their engagement with social media; they are large enough to have a dedicated social media specialist on staff. While, as a blogger, I fully understand that social media is here is stay and will continue to be a more and more important part of every business conversation, I am not sure where the conversation begins and the noise ends. At this point, I perceive Twitter as noise . . . I truly don't get it . . . but the presenter and the panel of young designers spoke it its effectiveness. I suspect we are dealing with a generation gap here.

What is important, no matter who your customer, is not to let a conversation go on about you without you. So, if you are being talked about, be sure to get in on the conversation.

What I can report is the the doyenne's of the profession seated in the front row as well as the "young turks" were all dressed entirely in black. I have been going to this Design Center regularly since it opened and have never seen such a sea of black on the design community in Boston. (New York, always) Is this recession Black? I suspect I am reading this correctly, and that it means continued a traditional color palette in all things home furnishings as well.

Visualizing Color

This month's Wilsonart blog reminded me of my favorite places in New York - the Kremer Pigment store. They have a delightful collection of images on their website: Colors of Nature that communicate the essence of color and help their customers "see" the colors of the pigment collection in context. What a charming marketing tool!

Finding a bargain feels as good as sex

I am sure this headline gets readers, but who doesn't love a good bargain?

The Return of Wisdom and Common Sense

I don't know exactly when wisdom, in academic lingo, and common sense, from my perspective, left our culture. However, I can pinpoint exactly the moment I became aware of it - it was the day someone stood up in a national sales meeting and defined "Total Quality" for all the "dummies" in attendance. Shocked at the time, I had no idea what to make of this concept, which appeared to be common sense to me. Little did I know that things would go downhill from there. The culmination of these ideas was the use of "Six Sigma" for new product development in yet another company.

And now we are legislating for "dummies" as well, instead of encouraging common sense and rewarding wisdom, we are passing a plethora of unnecessary laws - but that is a merely personal musing - outside this blog conversation. It is happening more and more as this recession continues and there is less to take note of concerning the built environment.

Barry Schwartz inspired me with his book, "The Paradox of Choice" and now he is once again in the forefront of bringing wisdom back to its proper place in our culture with this short lecture. A fiasco like the Wall Street meltdown could have been mitigated or avoided if more people had acted on principles of practical wisdom, Barry Schwartz argues. Here he gives diagnosis and prescription for a society that has, in part, lost touch with wisdom.

There are more small signs that wisdom is returning. 3M, the company that both survives and thrives, on new product innovation is featured in an article in Forbes,"3M's Innovation Revival" and mentions how the executive brought in from GE had reduced their sales of new product from 30% to 21% overall in the year's that he ran the company with his heavy emphasis on "Six Sigma." Like ex-GE executives in building materials, his fixes were all short term. George Buckley, the new chairman and CEO has returned new products to their rightful place - back up to 30%. A wise man indeed!

Fashion, Finishes and Art

Fashion Week has moved uptown and is now held at Lincoln Center instead of in a temporary tent. At the first Fashion Week to be held there, no one captured fashion as performance "art" better than Catherine Malandrino and Couture Snob captured the images. Her collection is also featured as wearable art on a Wall Street Journal blog.

What is even more intriguing is the article in the WSJ "Fashion as Art," where Virginia Postrel has an interesting take on the matter: "Fashion is shedding its cultural stigma. It is increasingly recognized as a significant cultural activity—indeed, one of the defining characteristics of our civilization." That all sounds very noble, but what I see happening is the business has co-opted the concept of design with all the incessant talk of "design-thinking." So what are designers to do but designate themselves as ARTISTS.

And this connection to art is not lost on those that intent to stay trend forward in fashion end of the home furnishings business as well. Silestone, the countertop surface manufacturer is sponsoring an exhibition opening this week at the Museum of Modern Art entitled: Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen.(Fast Company's design blog has a story and some great pictures from the show.)

Lessons from Trader Joe's continued . . .

For me, it was love at first sight - that first time that I walked into a Trader Joe's store. I truly couldn't understand the gentleman that attended one of my presentations and took offense at my suggestion that there were lessons to be learned for our industry from this charming little food emporium. My main point was that the proliferation of product choices was overwhelming the consumer and that all retailers had to become "choice editors" for their customers in the future.

Not much is know about the inside working of what has become a food giant, but the current issue of Fortune tells the story of their success as best as they can determine from sources other than the company itself. The big reveal is that Stonyfield makes their yogurt, but you have probably already figured that out if you have purchased both products. They sell double the number of dollars per square foot as Whole Foods, their nearest in-kind competitor - so who wouldn't want to take tips from Trader Joe's?

Aging in place or on Wheels?

Will "Baby boomers' lifelong affair with all things motorized" affect the future sales of home related items?

Some anecdotal evidence shows that fulfilling the lifelong dreams of wheels trumps real estate. I suspect there is a gender divide here, but the article in the Miami Herald goes to great lengths to feature woman motorcycle, RV and sports car owners to convince us that this is more than the fulfillment of males fantasies. There are still more women planning their jewel box retirement homes than buying Harley's, but my guess is there will be extra large temperature controlled garages included.

The World of Wacky Ideas

Crowne Plaza Hotels in the UK are installing grass floors in conference rooms "to spur creativity."

And file this related quote under specious research: Angela Whitlock, author of Walk on the Grass, said: "Research has shown that by the age of 25, as much as 98% of our creativity has vanished."

TheLady GaGa Era

As both a boomer and a marketer, I am endlessly fascinated by Lady GaGa. She is a creature of the times, as surely as Madonna is of her and Michael Jackson was of his respective era. Some of her outfits are an example of the "geometry" trend observed in building material aesthetics that I incorporated in my 2010 trend report. According to the New York Times, today's youth of the City are totally engrossed with her image and likeness. The rest of the country should follow suite, Lady GaGa senses the tenor of the times, not just in her music, but in her dress and staging as well.

Opportunity for Surfaces?

In the 80's jetted tubs were all the rage, according to an article in the UK newspaper, the Telegraph, not so much these days. This leaves opportunities for products designed for shower areas. However, in the new age of luxury, everyone has to compete with Apple and Sony for the consumer dollar according to an article in USA Today. (I would add some other names like Samsung and Toshiba to that short list.) As we all become even more addicted to our electronics, the available dollars are going to those products. We would rather escape into these products and the virtual worlds rather than worry about our physical surroundings. It will take targeted marketing efforts to focus consumers attention back to their living environments and away from the virtual realm.

Can the Million Dollar Bathtub be far behind?

Harrod's, the London luxury department store, offers a 530,000 Pound bathtub - that is currency, not weight. The rock crystal tub is offered by Florentine luxury furnishings group Baldi. Baldi offers luxury products especially designed for those who do not consider discretion a virtue.

I can't think of a single trend that this exemplifies, other than the one about being talked about at all costs - and we all know that works if you are willing to pay the price.

Social Networking raises Oxytocin

We know that "if businesses wish to thrive in our interconnected world, where consumers' opinions spread at the speed of light, they must act as a trusted friend: create quality products, market them honestly, emphasize customer care." To find out why this is so, read "Social Networking Affects Brains Like Falling in Love" in July's Fast Company.

Futures Thinking vs. Design Thinking

Core 77 offers an excellent article on Futures Thinking vs. Design Thinking and how they work in concert. "How can Futures Thinking Amplify Design Thinking."

TEDxCalgary - Michael Drew - Pendulum

No matter how much time you allow yourself for trend-watching, this video with a critical story to tell marketers is a must-see. This acclaimed Pendulum presentation tells us exactly where we are on the pendulum at present and then examines how entrepreneurs and thought leaders can capitalize on society's alternating cycles of civic and idealistic attitudes.

More Levering of Brands

As I just got back from an extended trip, I have been paying closer attention to my emails from Shutterfly.com - as creating one of their books is my favorite momento of trips and events. Today's email amused me to no end, they announced that in concert with Clairol's Root Touch-up a new root touch-up tool is available on their site. You could even try it out. Tres amusant! . . . and good marketing for both parties.

KBIS 2010/ As if 2008 didn't happen

I didn't make it to KBIS this year, but judging by the New York Times assessment in their story "A Sea of Bliss," I saw everything three years ago. I thought the industry had finally stopped focusing on all those multiple shower-heads, but according to the article they appear to have made a return this year. So much for water conservation!

Of course, it is also possible that this is the writer's first attendance at the show and she was overwhelmed by all the spouting water. In home furnishing trends - just as in politics, it is important to consider the source and draw your own conclusions.

"Green Builder" Home of the Year

An article on Treehugger.com explains why the Zeta Communities Net Zero Energy Urban Prefab may just be the modular home manufacturer that survives. Winner of Green Builder's 2009 Home of the Year, Treehugger suggests: "These guys are building what appears to be well designed, relatively conventional modular housing with off-the-shelf technologies, with what appears to be the financial backing to make it through this recession and position itself for the recovery."

Sincerely "Green"

I remember how disappointed I was at the 2008 Greenbuild that so few booths displayed the spirit of sustainability - I got a serious "greenwashing" vibe after attending the show. (The Antron booth was the exception.)

Designer Joey Roth really gets it though . . . he arrived at a recent New York International Gift Fair with a sketch pad, saw and hammer and made his booth from the scraps of the other attendees. Now that is what I call the proper spirit of the movement.